The Sense of Appropriateness: Application Discourses in Morality and Law

Gunther’s book demonstrates that most objections to moral and legal principles are directed not against the validity of principles but against the manner of their application. If one distinguishes between the justification of a principle and its appropriate application, then the claim that the application of the principle in each individual case follows automatically from its universal justification proves to be a misunderstanding. Gunther develops this distinction with the help of Habermas’s discourse theory of morality. He then employs it to extend Kohlberg’s theory of moral development and to defend this against Gilligan’s critique. In the third and fourth parts of the book, Gunther shows-in debate with Hare, Dworkin, and others-how argumentation on the appropriate application of norms and principles in morality and law is possible.