Discourse Ethics and the Problem of Fundamentalism in the Globalized World

In “Discourse Ethics, Globalization and the Problem of Fundamentalism,” Binyam Mekonnen discusses the philosophical ground and limitations of discourse ethics in relation to the current debate on global citizenship and justice. He argues that discourse ethics predominantly employs the epistemological tool of a post-conventional communicative rationality. Despite this, fundamentalism is still one of the core problems in the contemporary global world. According to the proponents of discourse ethics as a philosophical project, it is possible for such ethics to construct the system of globalization in a rational and peaceful fashion. As far as this claim is concerned, there is a call for discursive dialogue and communicative action through “systematic” inclusion of the Other. Practically, discourse ethics uses the character of essentialism to conceal its mythic interests within the so-called occidental universal homogenization.