Ideal speech situation
Encyclopedia
In the earlier philosophy of Jürgen Habermas
it is argued that an ideal speech situation is found within communication between individuals when their speech is governed by basic, but required and implied, rules. These rules of speech, Habermas suggested, are generally and tacitly accepted by both of the communicating parties, but even if they are not—perhaps in the case of one party telling a lie—the ideal speech situation nevertheless remains a more broadly required principle.
1. Every subject with the competence to speak and act is allowed to take part in a discourse.
2a. Everyone is allowed to question any assertion whatever.
2b. Everyone is allowed to introduce any assertion whatever into the discourse.
2c. Everyone is allowed to express his attitudes, desires and needs.
3. No speaker may be prevented, by internal or external coercion, from exercising his rights as laid down in (1) and (2)
The concept of the ideal speech situation came under attack in the 1970s by theorists who persistently relativized the concept, arguing that any particular conception of an ideal speech situation could not be proven completely correct, so that any (still-unknown) gaps would allow associated oppressions to arise or persist. Habermas responded to this in 1983 with Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action (English trans. 1990). In this work he no longer spoke of a known ideal speech situation but instead of a new moral system ("Discourse ethics") that could be derived from the "presuppositions of argumentation". These in turn could initially be postulated by philosophical analysis in the same way that Immanuel Kant
tried to justify his own moral system through transcendental arguments. However, in contradistinction to Kant, Habermas recognizes that the presuppositions of argumentation can be tested in practice by a device he terms "performative contradiction". If critics object to the presuppositions of argumentation, their argument might be turned on them to demonstrate that their argument has already granted the existence of whatever specific presupposition of argument they object to. However, if such a performative contradiction cannot be found, then the presuppositions of argumentation must be revised to take account of the criticism and the moral system derived from these presuppositions altered accordingly. In other words, "performative contradiction" is not a trump card to dismiss all objections but a fair test of those objections. The dialectical nature of Habermas's argument often goes unrecognized.
Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas is a German sociologist and philosopher in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. He is perhaps best known for his theory on the concepts of 'communicative rationality' and the 'public sphere'...
it is argued that an ideal speech situation is found within communication between individuals when their speech is governed by basic, but required and implied, rules. These rules of speech, Habermas suggested, are generally and tacitly accepted by both of the communicating parties, but even if they are not—perhaps in the case of one party telling a lie—the ideal speech situation nevertheless remains a more broadly required principle.
Doctrines
Members of the public sphere must, however, adhere to certain rules for an 'ideal speech situation' to occur. They are:1. Every subject with the competence to speak and act is allowed to take part in a discourse.
2a. Everyone is allowed to question any assertion whatever.
2b. Everyone is allowed to introduce any assertion whatever into the discourse.
2c. Everyone is allowed to express his attitudes, desires and needs.
3. No speaker may be prevented, by internal or external coercion, from exercising his rights as laid down in (1) and (2)
The concept of the ideal speech situation came under attack in the 1970s by theorists who persistently relativized the concept, arguing that any particular conception of an ideal speech situation could not be proven completely correct, so that any (still-unknown) gaps would allow associated oppressions to arise or persist. Habermas responded to this in 1983 with Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action (English trans. 1990). In this work he no longer spoke of a known ideal speech situation but instead of a new moral system ("Discourse ethics") that could be derived from the "presuppositions of argumentation". These in turn could initially be postulated by philosophical analysis in the same way that Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
tried to justify his own moral system through transcendental arguments. However, in contradistinction to Kant, Habermas recognizes that the presuppositions of argumentation can be tested in practice by a device he terms "performative contradiction". If critics object to the presuppositions of argumentation, their argument might be turned on them to demonstrate that their argument has already granted the existence of whatever specific presupposition of argument they object to. However, if such a performative contradiction cannot be found, then the presuppositions of argumentation must be revised to take account of the criticism and the moral system derived from these presuppositions altered accordingly. In other words, "performative contradiction" is not a trump card to dismiss all objections but a fair test of those objections. The dialectical nature of Habermas's argument often goes unrecognized.