Ethical decisions are often disputed in the public arena. Some theorists lament the state of mediated persuasion because it does not allow for the free and open expression of ideas. The German philosopher, Jurgen Habermas, set out to develop a theory that would lead to a vibrant "public sphere," In which all members of society could openly and rationally discuss issues that were important to them. This open discussion would result in symbol sharing, which would maximize the opportunities for choice and identification. However, Habermas was critical of the domination of public discussion by particular interests, namely, the interests of capitalism. He saw this domination as inhibiting the audience's ability to choose whether to identify with a persuader or not.
Habermas explains that society is a mix of three interests: work, interaction and power. Work produces goods or services. Habermas said that it is a technical interest because technology is used to accomplish practical and efficient results. Interaction is the use of language and other symbolic communication systems to achieve social cooperation. Examples of interaction include conferences, family relations and identification. The third interest is power, or the ability to be free from domination. Each of the interests somehow mediates between human experience and the natural world. Ideally, society is a mix of all three interests, with each influencing individuals equally. Habermas is concerned that in capitalistic societies, Technical interests dominate discussions in the public sphere. That is our political and social discussions are dominated by the ideology.
To free ourselves from the domination of the technical interests we must be competent in our use of communication, says Habermas. His theory of universal pragmatics describes how individuals can reflect on their language use and rational argument to emancipate themselves from the technical interests. Habermas writes, "The task of universal pragmatics is to identify and reconstruct universal conditions of possible understanding." Habermas focuses on how persuaders can identify with their audience through the use of rational discourse.
At the core of universal pragmatics are speech acts and how those speech acts can be challenged to come to rational understanding. A speech act is a statement that accomplishes something or does something. A promise is an example of a speech act. When you make a promise you enter into an implicit contract by which you agree to do something in exchange for something else.
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