Aiming at Social Self-Governance - Reflections on Publicness form the Viewpoint of the Lifeworld.
Same as this semester.
This research project corresponds to research on any of the following (1) and (2).
(1) China study
(2) Study on civil society, intermediate organizations such as NGOs, and religions.
This is because my research is targeting on religious NGOs in China. If you think you have interests related to these areas, you are welcome to contact us.
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Alasdair MacIntyre said the modern world lacks a moral foundation. To be precise, I suspect that the system of politics and markets, not the whole modern world, lacks a moral foundation. Modern liberalists believe that reason freed humans from the "prejudice" of customs and beliefs. Therefore, the system that liberalism envisions must be value-neutral, not bound by customs or beliefs. On the other hand, they also believe that the system should not intervene in the choices of individuals in the lifeworld. Therefore, in principle, liberal nations such as the United States and Japan maintain the separation of church and state in the system and protect the freedom of religion and thought in the lifeworld. As a result, in the liberal system, monetary value becomes the de facto standard, not the morals of customs and beliefs. Economic growth, materially affluent life, and maintaining security and national defense so as not to threaten them are top priorities.
Therefore, there is no moral foundation. In fact, even if someone say that "liberalism ends up in utilitarianism," I believe, "realists" like T. Hobbs would not object it. On the other hand, idealistic liberalists like I. Kant, J. Rolls and J. Habermas were trying to say, "Morality can be derived from the reason." Habermas is seriously thinking how to derive morals explicitly verbalized by reason from the customs and beliefs that are freely spoken in the lifeworld, how to reflect them in the system, and what kind of communication is possible for that purpose ,and he insists that "those who have religious beliefs should translate and send out rational expressions unrelated to their beliefs."
On the other hand, authoritarian systems based on nationalism or/and socialism have emerged while denying liberalism as egoism. Authoritarianism does not drive customs and beliefs out of the system, but determines the only correct belief with its own authority. The origins of their "justice" are idols like ethnic community or revolutionary classes.
Then, we are in a dire situation. In liberalism, we are subordinate to the idol of money, and in authoritarianism, we are subordinate to the national idol. So, back to McIntyre, the question is, "Where is morality?"
Personally, I don't think we are hopeless. From a Habermas perspective, there is a living morality in the lifeworld. However, I also think, "Is there really a communication process that changes it into an explicit language?" "Is there a need to reflect it in the system?" If the lifeworld has the strength to compete with the monetary idols and state-owned idols of the system, we can resist with fortifying our lifeworld, and I think that resistance means our freedom and independence. R. Bellah said we have unverbalized moral consciousness in the lifeworld.
So, I am doing this kind of research, focusing on how far religious practices can continue to create new moral consciousness in the lifeworld. I believe it is possible even in a country like China.