Goodness Beyond Speech

Author: Segal A.

Source: Philosophical Investigations, Volume 27, Number 3, July 2004 , pp. 201-221(21)

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Abstract:

The article addresses Raimond Gaita's attempt to construe the ethical in terms of a notion of speech that is tied to presence (each of us, he holds, is called to become someone ‘authentically present in speech and deed’ ( Gaita 1991, p. 145)), a notion through which he articulates a sense both of human uniqueness – speech demands that one find one's own words – and of human fellowship: to find one's words is to achieve the depth that enables one to be taken seriously by others. The article argues, however, that the notion of speech is caught in a double bind; for it requires a spontaneity that is incompatible with the self-presence that it also requires. In a way that Gaita cannot acknowledge, goodness is beyond speech.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9205.2004.00224.x

Affiliations: 1: Charles Sturt University, Australia

Publication date: 2004-07-01