Europe, crisis, and critique: Social theory and transnational society

European Journal of Social Theory 17 (3):238-257 (2014)
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Abstract

The article begins with a selective outline of social theories of crisis. Such crisis diagnosis is important for general, societal argumentation. The current article positions normative-critical theories and Luhmann’s own version of system theory on opposite sides of the societal argument about the future of Europe and, generally, postnational society. The former supports moral and ethical visions of egalitarian pluralism, and the latter emphasizes the need to conform to the functional, communication logics of self-organizing social systems. It is then proposed that if rival social theoretical traditions, the above named and others, are to engage in meaningful normative argument with one another, they must develop a minimal, shared understanding of what should constitute the theory of society. In pursuit of this goal, the article advances a shared, minimal, theoretical framework that addresses both the full spectrum of the normative culture of modernity and its critique, no matter from which social standpoint or theoretical tradition the latter is advanced. In conclusion, asserting its own normative standpoint, it is argued that both a European cultural model and a constitutional order based on cosmopolitan solidarity are needed. Such a model should assert moral principles of justice, equality, responsibility, and legitimacy that would adequately respect and include the full variety of milieus and associational forms in contemporary European society, not just those of the present elite. Such a model should not simply be abstractly asserted, though that is an essential first step, but its conditions of possibility should be supported by appropriate social research that would investigate capacities for transnational democratic innovation and the formation of substantive moral principles among European publics.

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Habermas and the public sphere: Rethinking a key theoretical concept.Patrick O’Mahony - 2021 - European Journal of Social Theory 24 (4):485-506.
Populism and critical theory: On Arato and Cohen.Patrick O’Mahony - 2024 - Philosophy and Social Criticism 50 (6):890-897.

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References found in this work

Philosophical writings of Peirce.Charles S. Peirce - 1940 - New York,: Dover Publications. Edited by Justus Buchler.
Modern social imaginaries.Charles Taylor - 2004 - Durham: Duke University Press.
Modern Social Imaginaries.Charles Taylor - 2003 - Durham: Duke University Press.

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