Programm
Mediating Theory and Practice: Apel’s Discourse Ethics and Aristotelian Elenchos in Critique of Habermas
Antonio Pio De Mattia
University College Dublin, Irland
This paper critically examines the relationship between theory and practice by engaging with Jürgen Habermas’s formal-pragmatic discourse theory, enriched by Karl-Otto Apel’s discourse ethics and Aristotle’s elenchos. At the core of Habermas’s framework is the role of procedural norms in facilitating intersubjective consensus through argumentative praxis. Habermas situates argumentative discourse within procedural norms designed to achieve such consensus. While practical necessity underpins his approach, he resists grounding these practices in transcendental justifications. This reluctance raises concerns about the adequacy of purely procedural norms to support the critical and emancipatory potential of discourse. Habermas’s emphasis on practical necessity, coupled with his resistance to transcendental justification, exposes a critical tension: the risk of reducing the universality of normative presuppositions to contingent agreements within specific communicative contexts. This tension raises fundamental questions about whether theoretical constructs can maintain independence from practice and whether they adequately address the ethical responsibilities implicit in their application.
Karl-Otto Apel’s discourse ethics offers a compelling critique of this limitation by proposing a transcendental-pragmatic mediation. Apel contends that argumentative praxis must reconcile universal normative principles with the practical contingencies of real discourse. He introduces the performative principle of non-contradiction and philosophical self-reflexivity as essential tools for securing the legitimacy of argumentative practices. This mediation transcends Habermas’s procedural focus by preserving the critical capacity of discourse to evaluate and transcend the limitations of its contextual conditions. Apel’s approach also emphasizes the ethical responsibility of participants to engage in inclusive and equitable dialogue, ensuring that all voices contribute meaningfully to the consensus-building process.
To extend this critique, the paper integrates Aristotle’s elenchos, a dialectical method that foregrounds the importance of indirect refutation in argumentative inquiry. The elenchos underscores the necessity of engaging with counterarguments to rigorously interrogate the presuppositions underlying validity claims. This dialectical process complements Apel’s transcendental-pragmatic mediation by providing a methodological basis for critiquing both the theoretical ideals and practical applications of discourse. Through the synthesis of Apel’s and Aristotle’s insights, the paper demonstrates how argumentative praxis can mediate between transcendental norms and the practical realities of communication.
The analysis further contends that Habermas’s procedural model requires a regulative criterion capable of evaluating the outcomes of discourse beyond localized contexts of justification. Such a criterion must remain self-reflexive and open-ended, allowing for the continuous reassessment of the presuppositions guiding both theory and practice. By addressing the interdependence of theory and practice, this paper illustrates how theoretical constructs like Habermas’s communicative rationality not only inform practical action but also bear the responsibility to critique and refine the conditions under which they are applied.
Ultimately, this study contributes to broader philosophical debates on the ethical and normative dimensions of argumentative praxis. It underscores that the relationship between theory and practice is dynamic, requiring an ongoing interplay between transcendental ideals and practical contingencies. By combining Apel’s discourse ethics with Aristotelian elenchos, this paper offers a robust framework for understanding how philosophical theories can guide practical engagement while remaining critically attuned to the limitations and possibilities of their context.