Hebermas on Equality

 Juergen Habermas on Equality

In Virgil Nemoianu's construction of Habermas' dialogue with Benedict XVI, whose name is B. Ratzinger, Habermas is not portrayed unfairly, but it may seem that he has developed a flexibility which we may find difficult to understand. 

Since ‘Theory of Communicative Action,’ 1982, and perhaps even before, the universal idea of inclusion of all viewpoints was obvious in Habermas' work.  Habermas has stated repeatedly in most of his work in the past 20 or so years, that universal inclusion is a moral necessity, all voices must be heard and considered.  

Lately, Habermas has focussed on the term, ‘tolerance,’ to describe what an actualized inclusiveness and a real equality should live up to in ‘Natural Law andReligion, 2009. 

Tolerance is the best word here for an elaborate translation or interpretation. The work of Marcuse and Brienes and others in the 60's found the meaning of tolerance to include a superiority which contradicted equality.  Habermas explains especially in his “Equality of Cultures,” talk given at NYU on Oct 12, 2006, that certain policies impact on the religious identity of individuals differentially, for example, policies related to contraception, abortion, genetic engineering, limiting their freedom instead of expanding it as the policy or norm intended.  

Habermas explains the role of perspective-taking in communication and in the development of a rational understanding through communicative action or universal discourse - the emergence of an objective awareness occurs through the coordination of the 1st and 2nd person perspectives which involves a switching of perspectives. 

Habermas raises the point that secularists are required to take the perspectives of others in terms of their religious identity in order to understand the effect of laws, norms, policies, practices, and events on those other people. Similarly, Christians and Muslims are required to take the perspectives of other sects in their own religion as well as the perspectives of people from other religions. That is, a perspective on equality is not a leveling of perspectives but an inclusion of the differences.  

Historically, it must be recognized that the civil wars in the Middle East for the past 73 years are between different Muslim sects and between Muslims and Christians, and not only between Muslims andJews..