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Interactive universalism, the concrete other, and discourse ethics: a sociological dialogue with Seyla Benhabib’s Theories of Morality

Abbott, Owen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2285-3672 2023. Interactive universalism, the concrete other, and discourse ethics: a sociological dialogue with Seyla Benhabib’s Theories of Morality. European Journal of Social Theory 26 (3) , pp. 335-353. 10.1177/13684310221129522

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Abstract

Noting that Benhabib’s ethical theory has seldom been engaged with by sociologists of morality, this paper introduces and interrogates Benhabib’s ethical theory from a sociological perspective. It is argued that Benhabib’s critiques of Enlightenment conceptions of morality complement sociological theories of morality. Her concepts of the ‘concrete’ and ‘generalized’ other and ‘interactive universalism’ can potentially inform recurrent debates in the sociology of morality about the extent to which cultural plurality precludes the possibility of sociologists providing normative judgements, and the extent to which certain features of moral experiences can be taken to be universal. However, Benhabib’s argument that discourse ethics can provide a procedural means to judge between competing moral claims leads her to prioritise the perspective of ‘postconventional’ Western modernism as the means to adjudicate between the moral tolerability of cultural beliefs and practices. This leads her to characterise ‘conventional’ moral systems as subordinate, which succumbs to postcolonial critiques of the role of processes of domination in organising the validity of moral claims.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics
H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISSN: 1368-4310
Funders: Leverhulme Trust
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 7 October 2022
Date of Acceptance: 13 September 2022
Last Modified: 06 Nov 2023 18:32
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/153134

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