Keith Hudson wrote:
[snip]
> I agree totally with the Jurgen Habermas quote that Brad has made:
> <<<<
> (BMcC)
> a real democracy is government [cracy] by the people themselves [the demos]
> -- in direct face-to-face "discourse aimed at reaching uncoerced agreement
> based only on the unforced force of the best argument".
> >>>>
[snip]
I appreciate the positive reception of my Habermas quote.
I think that one part of this idea needs especial
emphasis, however: the part about: "unforced force".
It is not good enough to use [limited] truth to gain
unfair advantage in a wider context awareness of which one represses
in the very act of shoving the [limited] truth down
the other person's throat.
Example: "Did you steal the bottle of milk, or didn't you?"
"My family was starving...." "Don't try to evade the question:
Did you or didn't you?" "As I said...." "That's not the
question. The question is, to repeat it because you
don't seem to have heard it: Did you, or didn't you?
Be a man, and tell the truth! [unstated: so we can punish you,
i.e.]" "...."
Habermas's notion of "communication aimed at mutual
agreement..." requires that I not just try to get
you to agree with me, but that I nurture to the
best of my ability, your capacity to respond freely
and intelligently.
This might mean, e.g., if
I am a teacher and you are a student, me relinquishing my
power to give you a bad grade, because so long
as I retain that power, you cannot respond to what
I overtly say, but rather must attend to the larger context in which
my words are spoken, namely, my power to hurt you
if I don't like what you say: "You agree with me? How can
you, student, since I have power to grade you but you have
no equivalent power over me? You probably never have heard such
a thing from a teacher in your life, did you?" "....No, sir."
"That's the point: You have been cowed into thinking of
yourself as a lesser being, or at least you have learned to
pretend to. Well, here: Here's a "B" no matter whether you
do anything in the course or not, and you can have an "A" just
for asking. I don't expect you to trust me, but I am trying
to be a teacher and not, what I call, from my own experience,
a tor-mentor. I know I have to earn your trust, for
you have no reason from your experience to trust me...." (This
is, more or less, Hegel's story of "The Gentleman and his
Valet", transposed to the classroom).
Pretty scary, isn't it?
"Yours in discourse..."
+\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
914.238.0788 / 27 Poillon Rd, Chappaqua NY 10514-3403 USA
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