propheticprohibitions,liberallegalismandreasonable.docVIP

Prophetic Prohibitions, Liberal Legalism and Reasonable Recognition: The cartoon controversy as a problem case for multicultural recognition. By Sune L?gaard, Philosophy, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, laegaard@hum.ku.dk 1 Introduction The recent ‘cartoon controversy’ sparked by the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in a Danish Newspaper was both the most dramatic reminder to date of the new multicultural reality facing Danish society and testimony to the difficulty for mainstream Danish society of coming to terms with multiculturalism. In the initial reactions to the cartoons, much as in the Rushdie affair, two extreme views were often set against each other, namely the view, held by some Muslims and Muslim organizations, that the publication was wrong, and should therefore be prohibited, and the view of the Newspaper and some of its supporters that it was legal, and therefore not wrong. Against this dichotomous standoff, however, many have suggested that even though publications such as that of the cartoons cannot be illegal in a liberal democracy, it can nevertheless be undesirable and even morally wrong. If this is so, in what sense, and due to which factors, can such religiously offensive publications be wrong, and if the wrongness does not translate into legal prohibitions or sanctions, what are its implications, and with respect to whom? This paper will discuss whether the politics of recognition provides a fruitful approach to this general problematic, using the cartoon controversy as a point of departure and example. Multicultural conflicts like the cartoon controversy have often been presented as issues of recognition and normative theories of multiculturalism designed to deal with such cases often take form as theories of recognition. In light of this, the paper asks a) whether the cartoon controversy can plausibly be construed as a case involving (lack of) recognition and disputed claims for recognition, b) what the relevant sen