The controversy between Rawls and Habermas: an analysis about the limits of public and private sphere

• Grant number: 14/03733-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2014
• End date: December 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - Political Theory
• Principal Investigator: Álvaro de Vita
• Grantee: Lilian Sendretti Rodrigues Macedo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project aims to present a comparative analysis of the controversy between Rawls and Habermas, that occurred mainly after the publication of "Political Liberalism", by Rawls, in 1993. It doesn't intend to just describe and discuss the criticisms claimed by both authors, but, mainly, by means of these controversies, convergences and divergences between them, it aims to understand the differences of conceptions and relations between public and private, what, on the other hand, is related to the way the authors understand and the fundamental liberties or rights. The habermasian objection that interests for this research is related to his critique of fundamental liberties as pre-politician. For the author, the rawlsian theory builds a Rule of Law that subordinates the principle of democratic legitimacy to the fundamental liberal rights. In this sense, the private sphere, related to fundamental liberties, is understood as a refusal of the political participation comprehended as a power communicatively engendered by the citizens. However, is necessary to discuss the habermasian objection about the rigid limits between public and private and, as a consequence of this dichotomization, to question too if there is a rigid limit between public and no-public identity of citizens in Rawls' theory.