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Forst on Reciprocity of Reasons: A Critique
Author(s) -
Besch Thomas M.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the southern journal of philosophy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.281
H-Index - 21
eISSN - 2041-6962
pISSN - 0038-4283
DOI - 10.1111/sjp.12386
Subject(s) - reciprocity (cultural anthropology) , generality , duty , reciprocal , epistemology , politics , sociology , order (exchange) , law and economics , law , philosophy , political science , economics , social science , management , linguistics , finance
According to Rainer Forst, (i) moral and political claims must meet a requirement of reciprocal and general acceptability (RGA) while (ii) we are under a duty in engaged discursive practice to justify such claims to others, or be able to do so, on grounds that meet RGA. The paper critically engages this view. I argue that Forst builds a key component of RGA, that is, reciprocity of reasons, on an idea of reasonableness that undermines both (i) and (ii): if RGA builds on this idea, RGA is viciously regressive, and a duty of justification to meet RGA is not agent transparent and not adoptable. This result opens the door for alternative conceptions of reciprocity and generality. I suggest that a more promising conception of reciprocity and generality needs to build on an idea of the reasonable that helps to reconcile the emancipatory or protective aspirations of reciprocal and general justification with its egalitarian commitments. But this requires downgrading RGA in the order of justification and to determine on prior, substantive grounds what level of discursive influence in reciprocal and general justification relevant agents ought to have.