The Idea of the Secular Sacred
Relativism and Morality
Politicians and religions failed to prevent or redeem the human suffering and environmental disasters of the twentieth century. It is therefore not surprising that intellectual circles display a chronic scepticism toward any kind of grand narrative or universalism. Moral or otherwise.
The moral universe has lost any traditional or metaphysical ‘givenness’ and has come to be seen as a construct. A construct that is radically and hopelessly relative.
Relativism dominates secular thinking. The most virulent of which is, unquestionably, the radical deconstructionism found in postmodernism. Important though postmodernism has been its support for a radical multiculturalism is now questionable. Rather than different cultures offering alternative approaches to the world, postmodernism stressed that they offer mutually exclusive views of the world.
Habermas and Communicative Rationality
Drawing on Habermas it is possible to reconstruct a form of rational universalism without falling into metaphysical illusions. Particularly those that rest on the assumption of some transcendent point beyond history and culture.
The crucial step that enables this is the move to a communicative concept of rationality. From this basis I argue for the morally motivating power of a rationally based sense of the secular sacred. Important also is the identification with such through reflexive mythological and spiritual narratives.
For more on this see my article on the secular sacred where I also address the following issues:
- how to bring some stability to our moral universe without falling prey to complete relativism and the violence that shadows it
- moral convictions based on religious and traditional worldviews are not open to public debate – and should be
- the need to translate into secular terms those beliefs which can provide meaning, moral motivation and inspiration – and be open to challenge
- a secular approach to moral despair, suffering, loss of meaning and death
- the moral motivational deficit that plagues secular societies
See the following articles:
