Considering that the current civilizatory moment is defined by the epistemic, anthropological, ontological and ethical crises, this short paper deals with the concepts of two emblematic thinkers of contemporaneity, from the consideration of the illuminist tradition; those thinkers being: Jurgen Habermas and Richard Rorty. Habermas starts with fierce criticism of unilateralism in which the set of ideas of the Illustration ends up questioning the technicalness of it and opting for rethinking man and the world through taking up, once again the emancipating, cosmopolitan, illuminist ethic. Based on the linguistic-pragmatic tradition, Rorty, vigorously positions himself against the anthropological, epistemic and ethical illuminist perspectives. The author affirms that cosmopolitism through communicational solidarity should be the aim of our struggles, however without the direction of emancipation, which loses its meaning with the overthrow of the categories of substance, essence, truth, reason… The discussion between the authors takes into consideration the relationships between ethics and subjectivity.
modernity; ethics; subjectivity; Habermas; Rorty