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California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: February 3, 2005
Latest Update: February 3, 2005
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

Lecture Notes from Maria Pia Lara's
Moral Textures: Introduction

I've been rereading Moral Textures in order to share with you the roots of our dicussions on illocutionary discourse. Last night I reread the Introduction, and would like to explain to the best of my ability some of the terms and concepts she uses in this text.

First, she bases her approach to philosophy on Habermas' explanations of public sphere. Habermas, according to Pia Lara, in his early writings on the pulbic sphere made the connection that emancipatory discourse or discussions could help people recognize dominance and exploitation so that they might transform them in the public sphere. But she argues that Habermas failed to "link critical theory with a more cultural understanding of emancipation . . . " (Moral Textures, at p. 3.)

The "more cultural understanding" she refers to she draws from feminist literature that has taken its claims for recognition to the pulbic sphere, found dramatic narratives and performances to gain public attention, and, in the process, transformed dominant discourse in a way that moves it closer towards the acceptance and recognition of women.

What she has done is put together her respect for discourse, taken from Habermas, and her respect for women's issues in keeping oppression, exploitation, exculsion at a level of awareness that cannot be easily ignored. She puts these understandings together to come up with a theory that connects aesthetics (the cultural component of attaining and getting attention and awareness) to morality (the rational and/or spiritual component of our beliefs) along the way to redefinitions of social justice.

More soon. She's a professor of philosophy in Mexico, so I have to work hard at getting this into a language that us ordinary folks can turn to practical use in our daily affairs. jeanne

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