Philosophy, Terror and Democracy
Published January 07, 2005
Shortly after 9/11 both Jacques Derrida and Jurgen Habermas were scheduled to lecture in New York. Despite the catastrophe and the uncertainty in the aftermath of the attack, both philosophers thought it important to appear and defend democracy.
Derrida and Habermas were the subjects of an intense and hardspoken debate during the 80's. Accusations of "German tank rhetoric" and "French irrationalism" naturally led to the placement of these philosophers at different ends of the philosophical spectrum.
The New York based philosopher Giovanna Borradori seized the moment and approached the two thinkers to a discussion about Philosophy in the age of Terror (later published under the same title). It was considered to be something of a sensation to get the two together. Since the 80's debate the philosophical world were left with Derrida's deconstruction concept and critique of logocentrism versus Habermas' rationality and passionate defence of "the modern project". At stake, some commentators said, was nothing less than the heritage of the Enlightenment.
Giovanna Borradori, however, considered those critics to be in error. Derrida's constant and indefatigable deconstruction of the key concepts of the Enlightenment aimed, not to obliterate them, but to rejuvenate them in a critical manner. His thinking has never excluded criterias such as truth and validity, according to Borradori.
What then do these two philosophers have to say after 9/11?
Borradori poses a more general question first: How does the philosophical endeavour deal with the question of politics?
She makes the distinction between philosophers who are political activists, i.e. their body of work is more or less separate from their political work, and philosophers active in social criticism. Bertrand Russell and Noam Chomsky are examples of the former and Hannah Arendt, Jurgen Habermas and Jacques Derrida of the latter. Arendt argued that the task of philosophy was to reflect on human laws and institutions, i.e. the governing principles that humans use to be able to coexist with one another, and how these change during the course of history. According to Borradori, this view has influenced Derrida and Habermas both and there is ample evidence to that effect.
In the case of Habermas it is evident that, in book after book, he has investigated and seached for the foundations of law and democracy. How do we make institutions that will be considered legitimate by the citizens. The essence of his point is that the better argument will endure in a free and open communication between citizens. Therefore the institutions must accomodate this and ensure that this communication takes place.
In the book "Philosophy in a time of Terror" it's evident that Derrida urges us all to a constant reconsideration of common notions about friendship, hospitality, justice, cosmopolitanism, tolerance, forgiveness all central themes to our political and social consciousness and to self-evaluation aimed at identifying our ethics and beliefsystem. If Habermas urges us to seek sustainable, democratic and legitimate co-operation procedures on a political level, Derrida reminds us of the radical mode in which ethical demands that appear before us in the meeting of two individuals. These are two perspectives that do not exclude the other but rather compliment and emphasizes their inevitable connection.
- Philosophy, Terror and Democracy
- Published: January 07, 2005
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- Section: Books
- Writer: Thomas Ek
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Thank you for your comment Aaman!
I agree with you that especially in the Middle East, the Nation States are not particularly well-formed, nor do they offer much in the way of democracy.
I disagree with you on the point of lack of education however, since the horrific fact is that most fundamentalists education level is quite high, suicide bombers of hamas and hizbollah excluded, the fundamentalists of the Muslim Brotherhood, Jihad and Al-Qaida all seem to be resonably well educated by western standards. Unemployment is a factor though, and lack of democracy. What is striking in the Middle East is that the repressive regimes, most of them supported by us in the west only use Islam to suit their needs and people in the region recognize that and in their desperation turn towards even more repressive dogmas of fundamentalist doctrines. It is really peverted religious theology that now takes root in the "arab street". It doesn't take a scholar to debunk al-qaida teachings. For example: Both al-qaida and the Talibans are sunni and despise the shia, yet they often use shia rhetoric and shia blood mythology to stir up religious fevour. They use quotations from shia religious scholars that suit their twisted beliefs.
The real tragedy is that, unfortunately, terrorism works to some extent. The examples are numerous. The suicide bombers of ANC in South Africa were praised by Nelson Mandela and to my knowledge nobody calls him a terrorist today. The Jewish Stern Gang, who killed my fellow countryman, Swedish Royal UN envoy to Palestine, Folke Bernadotte, later saw one of their members becoming Prime Minister of Israel (Menachem Begin), eventhough he was wanted as a terrorist in Great Britain. Where do freedom fighting end and terrorism begin?
Thomas Ek
I do not know - perhaps to the victors belong the writing rights, in a manner of speaking. I am reminded, in a similar vein, of Bhagat Singh, Indian revolutionary, termed a terrorist by the British pre-Independence, and revered as a freedom fighter in India today.
I am a great admirer and reader of all books and texts of Jürgen Habermas.
And by the way I have all his books and texts (auf Deutsch, of course!).
I am looking for the interview of Habermas with Borradori in the English translation: Philosophy in a Time of Terror Here you can find an excerpt, but I need the whole text - the whole interview - in English
I have Habermas' book Der gespaltene Westen and I have Borradori's book Philosophie in Zeiten des Terrors There this interview can be found in German, but I need the whole interview in English. I need the whole interview for some American friends of mine.
I speak it out: Does anybody of you have this interview as an electronical file? PDF or MS-Word or TXT doesn't matter I don't want to buy this book in an English translation. Please, can you help me?
Many thanks in advance.
Karl-Heinz Wille
Hamburg / Deutschland
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All terrorist actions, collectively, have changed human history, if only in the form of creating a sense of concern over addressing the general unrest that seems to affect many non-state actors in the modern era. Much of this, IMHO, is because many nations created in the twentieth century were malformed nation states - Iraq is a good example, which did not possess the innate national identity essential for stable, healthy nation states. The dispossessed, displeased, and disaffected groups turned to terrorism, coupled with a lack of education, employment and misplaced religous fervor.