Basic Knowledge
“Situating the Self: Gender, Community, and Postmodernism in Contemporary Ethics,” is an interesting book that should be read by everyone concerned with the issues of critical theory, modality analysis, as well as contemporary ethics. The basic knowledge provided by Seyla Benhabib revolves around culture and social change from the perspective of a liberal democratic theorist. She believes that culture lacks purity since cultural norms are formed through dialogues and interactions with other cultures, which creates imaginary boundaries through changes.
The Democratic theory assumes that every person has the power to determine their own life, yet humanity exists in pluralism distinguished by cultural boundaries that are compatible with cosmopolitanism based on three conditions. The first condition is egalitarian reciprocity whereby minority and majority members of the society should have equal rights in terms of civil, political, and economic (Benhabib 45). The second condition is voluntary self-ascription, whereby it is normal to expect that everybody belongs to a certain religion or culture (Benhabib 192). However, the status of belonging to a certain religion or culture should not define the life of an individual. Every person should have a right to express themselves and even choose whether they should continue being members of a certain community. The third condition is where members should have the freedom to exit or associate with a group; for instance, the case of intercultural marriage.
Metaphor and Argument
However, there remains the question of whether cultural diversity and democratic equality can coexist. Almost every culture is not compatible with the three conditions mentioned above. For instance, many cultures have violated the condition of egalitarian reciprocity, where every country has minority groups that are not accepted by the majority. The second and third conditions are also problematic and this makes many social systems to be practising mixed pluralism with cosmopolitanism. Benhabib believes that the mentioned problems would be solved by having porous borders since political boundaries favor some members of the community while locking others out. She believes that it’s possible to have an empire without boundaries, but have a democracy with boundaries.
Benhabib is inspired by the philosophy of Emmanuel Kant that focuses on the creation of perpetual peace facilitated by universal hospitality for world citizens (Benhabib 130). Perpetual peace should enable everyone to move around the world and make decisions freely without the fear of hostility. The thought of perpetual peace and universal hospitality reminded Benhabib of the state of immigrants and refugees. The human right of hospitality should apply even for long-term stays. For instance, refugees should not be forced back to their State of origin when there is no assurance of safety in their country of origin. Nations should have obligations to refugees with regulations different from those of immigrants.
Relevance
“Situating the Self: Gender, Community and Postmodernism in Contemporary Ethics” is relevant to students and professionals in the fields of philosophy, psychology, and political science. Benhabib shines a light on issues that are currently central to contemporary social thoughts and most importantly the increasing boundaries of the three disciplines. The book focuses on the major social transformations taking place in society, which needs to be addressed in the light of modernity and postmodern consequences.
Modernism and postmodern consequences require a reconceptualization of freedom since it is a major function of the social context. In her context, freedom is the capacity to transform rather than transcend the condition in which individuals live; for instance, the changes in social contexts such as gender and feminism, refugees and immigration, as well as democracy. Benhabib (247) focuses on reformulating the aspect of universality position regardless of the illusion of enlightenment. She believes that communitarians, feminists, and postmodernists have been criticized by the legislating reason of the moral point of view, which creates inequality among the majority and minority. Gender is one of the main fields that have created major boundaries in the areas of philosophy, politics, and society. Philosophers, sociologists, and politicians should re-evaluate the applicability of the three conditions impacting humanity.
Work Cited
Benhabib, Seyla. Situating the Self: Gender, Community, and Postmodernism in Contemporary Ethics. Psychology Press, 1992.