MORALIDADE E RACIONALIDADE EM KANT E HABERMAS

Abstract

According to Kant and Habermas, reason is the basis of morality. For the former, ethics is subjective, whilst the later insists that it is discursive. Kant affirms that the individual´s moral action should be valid from a universal standpoint, whilst Habermas states that moral action should undergo and be approved by communication by all involved. In other words, the application of Kant´s duty is the categorical imperative. Habermas´s communicative action is a moral activity submitted to reason and consent among people by discourse. Habermas´s thought is different from Kant´s: Habermas follows the consent of people through language as creator of normative aspects but not through Kantian monological. For Habermas, reality is the source of discussion with regard to the correct or incorrect and not subjectivity of the human conscience, which is essential for Kant and German Idealism. However, both employ reason to guide correct decisions within language and within subjectivity of the German idealist conscience. Both employed the criterion of universality, or rather, from the individual to the universal or from consent by language to the universal. However, Kant and Habermas are basic for the development of Ethics during Modernity and Contemporaneity. In the wake of scientific and technological progress, Kant´s and Habermas´s ideas are protecting barriers for the atrocities that man may do for humanity. Results show that morality and reasonability in Kant and Habermas are highly relevant themes for today.