Monday, June 4, 2007

Re-reading Casanova's Public Religions in the Modern World.

Re-reading Casanova's Public Religions in the Modern World.
While I think that Asad has done a sufficient job of poking holes in Casanova's argument about secularization, I find myself going back to Casanova's book. I'm back here because I think that C's argument covers a lot of ground and I find myself continually playing with the dichotomy of public and private. On this topic, Casanova quotes Seyla Benhabib:
"SB has shown that the liberal model of "public dialogue" and its "neutrality" rule impose certain "conversational restraint," which tend to function as a "gag rule," excluding from public deliberation the entire range of matters declared to be "private" - from the private economy to the private domestic sphere to private norm formation." (65)

I think SB is right on here. I've been trying to track down her essay, rather then read it second hand. I wonder where an electronic version might be hiding out?

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