Challenges for a Public Ethics in South Africa

Resumo

ABSTRACT: Democracy has been recognized as the most appealing political and social model, a model that should be promoted and implemented in virtually every country. However, not even such a model is capable of dealing efficiently with realities of discrimination and social exclusion. Under this light, how can one overcome the dichotomy between theory and practice? In this article I will argue that the most effective way to overcome this dichotomy lies in the project of implementing a public ethics. It is an uncontested factor that this project is a challenging and difficult one, regardless of the country that hopes to apply it. On the one hand, because the notion of 'ethics' by itself generally exposes a 'multiple' understanding of its meanings, which are not necessarily conciliable between them. On the other hand, because the reference to a 'public' projects the responsibility of finding a criteria that can accommodate the multiplicity of ethical conceptualizations under a universal umbrella, which the public must recognize as legitimate and valid. For this reason I want to develop a very specific argument, namely, that a (public) ethics should be grounded in a Kantian conceptualization of individual autonomy, which simultaneously represents the conditions of possibility for the success of any democratic project. In order to defend the argument with a sharper intensity and clarity I will take a case study, namely, a country which is going through a democratization process: South Africa.

KEYWORDS: democracy, Kant, Apartheid, discrimination, multiculturalism.