Philosophy has created its own star-system. Everyone is concerned about political issues, especially when it comes to pluralism and diversity: proof is the enthusiastic crowd of students and anonym thinkers who welcomed four of the world’s most famous intellectuals invited to discuss secularism in the Great Hall at Cooper Union on October 22^nd. The first panel showcased Jürgen Habermas, worldwide acclaimed German philosopher known for his works The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere and Dialectics of Secularization, and Charles Taylor, the Canadian theorist of multiculturalism who recently authored A Secular Age. Following their speeches, the no less renowned gender studies initiator Judith Butler and race theorist Cornel West, who provided a lively and passionate debate about violence and alterity.

According to Habermas’ recent dialogue with John Rawls on the role of religion in debating political issues within the public sphere, he questioned the position of religious citizens in constitutional democracy, where competing worldviews and non universal absolutes require the neutrality of the state. The old theorist of communicative reason emphasized the necessity of the “translation proviso”, which allows citizens to formulate their religious beliefs in a universal language “without having to restrict the polyphonic diversity of public voices at its very source.” A diversity underlined by Taylor, who advocated a new conception of “secularism” as “the correct response of the democratic state to diversity” allowing every voice to take part to public debates, beyond narrow atheistic views of secularism embodied by the French “laïcité”.

By criticizing Israeli state violence, Judith Butler tackled the complex issue of building identity through alterity. The worldwide famous author of Gender Trouble emphasized the deep meaning of alterity as non-belonging, based on a conception of human beings as plural; involving Hannah Arendt’s reasoned appropriation of religious tradition, she developed the idea of “co-habitation” as the acceptance and promotion of alterity: against assaults on minorities, she urged the people to “actively preserve the non-chosen character of inclusive and plural co-habitation.” Princeton’s engaged and provocative philosopher Cornel West echoed her appeal to recognition of differences by an inspired and lyrical speech, focusing on the necessity of empathy for the suffering: introducing himself as a “blues man”, the charismatic orator preached “prophetic citizenship” and championed “the need for righteous indignation” about the lack of imaginative empathy and compassion.

In recent times of communitarianism and fundamentalism, the question of secular pluralism is highly controversial. By promoting dialogue and listening among communities, the four thinkers, despite their different and sometimes opposite views, helped to question the complex ontology of identities and alterity, giving hope for the future of a public debate on diversity.

Anne-Sophie Moreau

http://cooper.edu/rethinking-secularism-the-power-of-religion-in-the-public-sphere-2/

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