The Law And Morality In Habermas' Discourse Theory

The relationship between law and morality has always been an serious research topic in the field of legal philosophy.Jürgen Habermas has constructed a grand theory which takes the communicative action theory as the core.The legal theory and related moral theories of Habermas have brought new and different research perspectives to the field of the philosophy of law.In Habermas' legal theory,the relationship between law and morality is complementary: morality,as a kind of knowledge in the cultural dimension,provides intrinsic spiritual power for the law involving moral aspects;on the other side,law as a knowledge system and action system,provides the mandatory force for the morality to affect society deeper and wider to guarantee the unity of moral concepts and behaviors finally.This theory is obviously different from the previous theories of natural law school those who placed morality above the law,and also different from the legal positivists' position which separated morality from law basically.This theory of Habermas has caused intense reaction in many theoretical fields,among which there is no lack of criticism.This essay will complete two tasks: one is that this essay can defend the theory of Habermas slightly by emphasizing the legal and moral theories in the sense of post-conventional society and the social evolutionary theories;In addition,it can make those people who are not yet familiar with Habermas' theories understand these deeply.