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Horkheimer claimed that social philosophy should be normative and descriptive and at the same time establish a dialectical relationship between philosophy and the empirically oriented sciences. My argument is that rational reconstruction represents a fruitful transformation of this program. It enables the critical theorist to work both normatively and descriptively at the same time while the reconstructed core concepts also makes possible a dialectical relationship between philosophy and the social sciences. The concept of communicative action is a critical normative concept describing constitutive ideals which at the same time can be used to normatively assess the quality of discourse. Furthermore, the concept is increasingly being employed by empirically oriented political scientists thus establishing a dialectical relationship between the philosopher and the social scientist. This interpretation suggests that the very fact that reconstructed concepts are being taken up and used as starting points in empirical theories is a kind of corroboration of the theory.In the fourth paper, Justification and application: the revival of the Rawls-Habermas debate, I discuss the challenge from Rawls' second major work, Political Liberalism.

A development aid project to Malawi is described. This involved the development of a suitable anaesthetic machine for use in under-developed countries and the selection of a suitable oxygen concentrator to provide it with air and oxygen. All government hospitals were provided with anaesthetic equipment and personnel were trained to keep it regularly serviced. Follow up testing of reliability was undertaken. The cost benefit to the country amounted to 234,084 pounds (sterling) per year. This is the first instance of widespread use of standardized anaesthetic equipment which includes oxygen concentrators.

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Georg Sørensen, Udviklingsteori og den tredje verden, Aalborg: Aalborg Universitetsforlag, 1986, 152 s, 89.00 kr.; Georg Sørensen, Transnational selskaber og udviklingsprocessen i perifere samfund. Med en case-studie af Brasilien, Aalborg: Aalborg Universitetsforlag, 1983, 526 s., 160,00 kr.