QUESTIONING ETHICS Questioning Ethics: Contemporary debates in philosophy is a major discussion by some of the world’s leading thinkers of crucial ethical issues confronting us today Original contributions by Habermas, Derrida, MacIntyre, Ricoeur, Kristeva and other major philosophers are organized around five sections: hermeneutics, deconstruction, critical theory, psychoanalysis and applications of ethics Topics considered in these sections include the nature of politics, women’s rights, lying, repressed memory, historical debt and forgiveness, the self and responsibility, revisionism, bioethics and multiculturalism Each section engages with the critical implications of these problems for philosophy A key feature of this book is an interview with Jacques Derrida, which makes available the most accessible insight into his thinking for many years There is also an interview with Paul Ricoeur, which offers a very useful introduction to some of the key themes in his work Contributors: Hermeneutics: Paul Ricoeur; Richard Kearney; Jeffrey Barash; Jean Greisch Deconstruction: Jacques Derrida; John D.Caputo; David Wood; Simon Glendinning Critical Theory: Jürgen Habermas; Karl-Otto Apel; Thomas McCarthy; David M.Rasmussen Psychoanalysis: William J.Richardson; Julia Kristeva; Simon Critchley Applications: Alasdair MacIntyre; Maeve Cooke; Peter Kemp The Editors: Richard Kearney is Professor of Philosophy at University College Dublin and Boston College He is the author of The Wake of Imagination, Poetics of Imagining, Postnationalist Ireland, editor of Continental Philosophy in the Twentieth Century and co-editor of The Continental Philosophy Reader, all published by Routledge Mark Dooley is Lecturer in Philosophy at University College Dublin, and at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth He has published numerous articles in the area of continental philosophy, and has a book forthcoming on Kierkegaard, Derrida, and postmodern ethics QUESTIONING ETHICS Contemporary debates in philosophy Edited by Richard Kearney and Mark Dooley London and New York First published 1999 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002 Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1999 Richard Kearney and Mark Dooley, selection and editorial matter; individual chapters, the contributors All rights reserved No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Questioning ethics: debates in contemporary philosophy/edited by Richard Kearney and Mark Dooley p cm Ethics, Modern-20th century I Kearney, Richard II Dooley, Mark BJ319.Q47 1999 170–dc21 98–8544 CIP ISBN 0-203-45083-3 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-75907-9 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-18034-1 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-18035-X (pbk) This book is dedicated to the memory of Mícếl O’Regan and John Kevin Tierney CONTENTS List of contributors x Introduction RICHARD KEARNEY AND MARK DOOLEY PART I Hermeneutics Memory and forgetting PAUL RICOEUR Imagination, testimony and trust: a dialogue with Paul Ricoeur 12 Narrative and the ethics of remembrance 18 RICHARD KEARNEY The politics of memory: reflections on practical wisdom and political identity 33 JEFFREY BARASH Ethics and lifeworlds 44 JEAN GREISCH PART II Deconstruction 63 Hospitality, justice and responsibility: a dialogue with Jacques Derrida vii 65 CONTENTS Reason, history, and a little madness: towards an ethics of the kingdom 84 JOHN D.CAPUTO The experience of the ethical 105 DAVID WOOD The ethics of exclusion: incorporating the Continent 120 SIMON GLENDINNING PART III Critical theory 10 133 Three normative models of democracy: liberal, republican, procedural 135 JÜRGEN HABERMAS 11 The problem of justice in a multicultural society: the response of discourse ethics 145 KARL-OTTO APEL 12 Enlightenment and the idea of public reason 164 THOMAS McCARTHY 13 Paradigms of public reason: reflections on ethics and democracy 181 DAVID M.RASMUSSEN PART IV Psychoanalysis 199 14 201 In the name-of-the-Father: the Law? WILLIAM J.RICHARDSON 15 Revolt today? 220 JULIA KRISTEVA 16 The original traumatism: Levinas and psychoanalysis SIMON CRITCHLEY viii 230 CONTENTS PART V Applications 243 17 245 Some Enlightenment projects reconsidered ALASDAIR MacINTYRE 18 Questioning autonomy: the feminist challenge and the challenge for feminism 258 MAEVE COOKE 19 From ethics to bioethics 283 PETER KEMP Index 294 ix ... that questioning ethics as both a questioning of ethics and an ethics of questioning is now a pivotal preoccupation for many of the leading figures working in contemporary European philosophy In. . .QUESTIONING ETHICS Questioning Ethics: Contemporary debates in philosophy is a major discussion by some of the world’s leading thinkers of crucial ethical issues confronting us today Original... numerous articles in the area of continental philosophy, and has a book forthcoming on Kierkegaard, Derrida, and postmodern ethics QUESTIONING ETHICS Contemporary debates in philosophy Edited