Iris Marion Young and “Intersecting Voices”

• Published in: Philosophy today (Celina) 2008, Vol.52 (Supplement), p.10-18
• Main Author: Evans, Fred
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Collectivity; Critical theory; Cultural background; Cultural factors; Cultural groups; Cultural identity; Identity politics; Philosophy; Politics; Problem solving; Self concept; Social structure; Terminology; Theory
• ISSN: 0031-8256; 2329-8596
• DOI: 10.5840/philtoday200852Supplement48

"12 Besides their own value as goods, self-development, or the achievement of equal capability with others, and self-determination, or participation in determining one's actions, are valorized because they too are conditions for a just process of collective problem-solving.11 Without these conditions and the other procedures she states, Young feels there would not be true inclusion in the decision-making process. Because just procedures can only be approximated, Young adds that "justice 'in itself is a limit concept at which we always aim as the moral horizon of our political dealings. Inclusion and Democracy, 109. [...]Young counsels that rather than debating which definition of "the good" should prevail, the polity is expected to concentrate on making specific judgments that ensure the just functioning of the multi-voiced collectivity: "The outcome of political discussion and decision-making is almost never some conception of justice, but rather ^particular judgement about what actions and policies this collective should adopt to address these circumstances" (28-29; Young's italics). The following quotes further reinforce the idea that conventional social institutions are the basis for social connections: "An agent stands in relations of justice with all those others whose actions that agent assumes in the background of his or her own action (Inclusion and Democracy, 223); "Obligations of justice arise among persons set in.. institutional relations and causal chains of effect and influence. [...]the members of cultural and other groups are con- cerned with identity and, as Charles Taylor and other thinkers have pointed out, have cause to cherish the affinity with other people that this identity provides and to seek its preservation and flourishing. [...]Young accepts that our cultural background plays a role in both motivating us toward justice and interpreting the meaning of social justice terms (see above).