Habermas's discourse ethics attempts to explain the implications of
communicative rationality to moral insight and social norms. It reformulates Kantian
deontological ethics into the analysis of communicative structures. This means that it is an attempt to explain the universal and obligatory nature of morality as a consequence of certain universal obligations associated with successful communication. It is also a
cognitivist moral theory, which means it holds that moral norms can be justified like facts. Thus it is explicitly attempting to bridge
the gap between the "is" and the "ought." However, the entire project is undertaken as a
rational reconstruction of moral insight. It claims only to reconstruct the implicit normative orientations that guide individuals and it claims to access these through an analysis of communication.
Public discourse ethics Public discourse ethics consists of conversations about ideas in civic or community contexts marked by diversity of perspectives requiring thoughtful public engagement. This discourse is made up of differing insights that helps to shape the public's engagement with one another. This type of discourse is meant to protect and to promote the public good. For public discourse ethics to be successful there must be an effective level of civility between people or persons involved (
Freud: "Civilization began the first time an angry person cast a word instead of a rock"). At the same time, participants must be free to criticize each other's argumentation. Public discourse ethics allows interlocutors to make ethical or normative demands on each other. where its application to democracy and the legislative process was substantially refined and expanded. Before this book, Habermas had left open the question of the various applications of discourse theory to almost any type of consensus oriented group ranging from highly visible political and governmental groups, such as Parliament in Great Britain and Congressional debate in the United States, and other consensus oriented activities as found in public and private institutions such as those supported on various international websites and Wikipedia. ==See also==