Inclusion et difference. Vers une critique constructive de la reconnaissance chez Habermas (French text, Juergen Habermas)

The objective of my thesis is to develop a concept of group, starting from an analysis of Jurgen Habermas's theories of language and identity, which at the level of a political philosophy gives way to a constructive criticism of recognition while staying within the framework of a deliberative democracy. The concept of group which I develop contains two main characteristics. The first is to distinguish among what I call structures of culture and characters of culture. Among other things, language thus becomes a constitutive element of a group's structure of culture, conceptually separated from its character of culture. The second characteristic consists in a collective will which is not reducible to an addition of the wills of all individuals within a group, but which presupposes the generalized assent of all speakers taken in group. These two characteristics define the group as a linguistically structured lifeworld that includes, on the one hand, a collective institutional reality and, on the other hand, a set of speakers, each possessing a moral identity that partially constitutes the validity of the claims uttered by the group. Reflecting on John Rawls's recent works, I qualify the idea of an institutional reality as one that recognizes many politically autonomous groups, not only external to a political community but internal as well. The final chapter offers a constructive criticism of the concept of recognition in Habermas, which results in a moral cosmopolitanism centered on justice among individuals and groups that is not only compatible with the idea of a deliberative democracy, but that offers a critical perspective on this idea, preventing it from sinking into the double trap of either an individualistic or a holistic theory of the common good.