The conviction that political recognition is accomplished through the extension and completion of the Enlightenment project of toleration is shared by some of the most influential political theorists of our time. John Rawls, Charles Taylor and Will Kymlicka all formulate the issue of recognition as if it were a corollary of the principle of toleration based in equal liberty or dignity. This raises important issues which political thought must confront and engage with. Above all, it means reconsidering the primacy of (...) Enlightenment critique for our understanding of ourselves, our world and our encounter with others. In this article I examine the liberal conviction that tolerance (in the sense of a commitment to individual autonomy) best promotes recognition of cultural diversity. I argue that two weaknesses haunt the liberal project and undermine this belief. They prevail because of a failure adequately to address the question of recognition in its normative, ontological and symbolic aspects. In contrast, I argue that philosophical hermeneutics affords a critical perspective on democratic theory and practice that must be taken up and extended following the experience of identity politics. Key Words: hermeneutics • Kymlicka • multicultural democracy • normativity • Rawls • ontology • symbolic • Taylor. (shrink)

An evaluation of prominent debates concerning the force and ethico-politico significance of Derrida's writing.

SummaryAs a great deal of contemporary discussion reveals, there is an ongoing interest in determining the ethical and political relevance of Jacques Derrida's work. From standpoints deconstructive and otherwise, critics have tended to converge upon some version of a single question: What is the ethico-political significance of deconstruction? In this paper I shall aim to specify the difficulties of thus evaluating Derrida's work. The difficulties to which I refer stem largely from the inadequacy of established forms of critique to evaluate (...) the ethico-political impact of deconstruction. Rather than abandon such critique, I suggest that a close attention to what constitutes this disproportion is most productive here. Hence I shall argue that if one is to address issues of the ethical and political with regard to deconstruction, and not simply to insist from the outset on the very questioning mode which Derrida strives to interrupt, then another approach is needed. I shall propose that taking up Derrida's notion of ‘excessive’ responsibility attends not only to the main features of the Derridian problematic, but to the political and quasi-ethical aspect of his thinking. Most simply, if Derrida is successful in showing the supplementary structure of responsibility, such that responsibility can no longer be presented as an object or theme of knowledge, then it remains to explore the task of rethinking ethics and politics this initiates. (shrink)