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Western Philosophy
20th century
Name
Jürgen Habermas
Birth June 18, 1929 (1929-06-18) (age 78)
Düsseldorf, Germany
School/tradition Critical theory
Main interests Social theory · Epistemology
Political theory · Pragmatics
Notable ideas Communicative rationality
Discourse ethics
Deliberative democracy
Universal pragmatics
Influenced by Weber · Durkheim · Mead · Marx · Dilthey · Parsons · Kant · Heidegger · Piaget · Horkheimer · Adorno · Marcuse · Arendt · Peirce · Austin
Influenced Benhabib · Forst · Fraser · Honneth
Mockus · Hoppe · Feenberg
Wingert  · Georg Henrik von Wright

Jürgen Habermas (IPA: [ˈjʏʁgən ˈhaːbɐmaːs]; born June 18, 1929) is a German philosopher and sociologist in the tradition of critical theory and American pragmatism. Western philosophy is a term that refers to philosophical thinking in the Western or Occidental world, as distinct from Eastern or Oriental philosophies The twentieth century of the Common Era began on Events 618 - Coronation of the Chinese governor Li Yuan as Emperor Gaozu of Tang, the new Emperor of China, initiating three centuries Year 1929 ( MCMXXIX) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Düsseldorf (ˈdʏsəldɔɐf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. In the Humanities and Social sciences, critical theory is the examination and critique of Society and Literature, drawing from knowledge across Social theory is an essential tool used by scholars in the analysis of society through the use of theoretical frameworks social structures and phenomena are analyzed and placed in context Epistemology (from Greek επιστήμη - episteme, "knowledge" + λόγος, " Logos " or theory of knowledge Political philosophy is the study of questions about the City, Government, Politics, Liberty, Justice, Property, Rights Pragmatics is the study of the ability of Natural language speakers to communicate more than that which is explicitly stated Communicative Rationality is a theory or set of theories which try to explain human Rationality as necessary outcomes of successful communication Discourse ethics, sometimes called "argumentation ethics" refers to a type of Argument that attempts to establish normative or ethical truths by examining the Deliberative democracy also sometimes called discursive democracy, is a term used by some political theorists to refer to any system of political decisions based Universal pragmatics, more recently placed under the heading of formal pragmatics, is the philosophical study of the necessary conditions for reaching an Understanding Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (maks 'veːbɐ (21 April 1864 &ndash 14 June 1920 was a German political economist and sociologist who was considered Émile Durkheim ( April 15, 1858 – November 15, 1917) was a French Sociologist whose contributions were instrumental George Herbert Mead ( February 27, 1863 – April 26, 1931) was an American Philosopher, Sociologist and Psychologist Wilhelm Dilthey (ˈdɪltaɪ November 19, 1833 &ndash October 1, 1911) was a German Historian, Psychologist Talcott Parsons ( December 13, 1902 - May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist, who served on the faculty of Harvard University Immanuel Kant (ɪmanuəl kant 22 April 1724 12 February 1804 was an 18th-century German Philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg Martin Heidegger ( September 26, 1889 &ndash May 26, 1976) (ˈmaɐ̯tiːn ˈhaɪ̯dɛgɐ was an influential German philosopher Jean Piaget pjaʒɛ ( August 9, 1896 &ndash September 16, 1980) was a Swiss philosopher, natural scientist Max Horkheimer (February 14 1895 &ndash July 7 1973 was a German Philosopher and Sociologist, and a founder and guiding thinker of Critical Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno ( September 11, 1903 &ndash August 6, 1969) was a German -born international sociologist Herbert Marcuse ( July 19, 1898 &ndash July 29, 1979) was a German philosopher and sociologist, and a member of Charles Sanders Peirce (pronounced purse) (September 10 1839 &ndash April 19 1914 was an American Logician mathematician, philosopher John Langshaw Austin ( March 26, 1911 – February 8, 1960) was a British philosopher of language, born in Lancaster and Seyla Benhabib (born 1950 Istanbul) is a Turkish Jewish professor of Political science and philosophy at Yale and director of the Rainer Forst (b 1964 is a German philosopher and political theorist. Nancy Fraser (born 20 May 1947) is a critical theorist currently the Henry A Axel Honneth is a professor of philosophy at the University of Frankfurt Germany and director of the Institut für Sozialforschung ( Institute for Social Research) Antanas Mockus Šivickas (born March 25, 1952 in Bogotá) is a Colombian mathematician, philosopher, and politician Hans-Hermann Hoppe (born September 2, 1949) is an Austrian school Economist of the anarcho-capitalist tradition and a former economics Andrew Feenberg is a philosopher of technology. He is Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Technology in the School of Communication Simon Fraser University Lutz Wingert is a German philosopher from Frankfurt, influenced by Habermas. Georg Henrik von Wright (pronounced roughly fon vrikt, IPA hɛnrik fɔn-vrikt ( June 14, 1916 &ndash June 16, 2003) was Events 618 - Coronation of the Chinese governor Li Yuan as Emperor Gaozu of Tang, the new Emperor of China, initiating three centuries Year 1929 ( MCMXXIX) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Sociology (from Latin: socius "companion" and the suffix -ology "the study of" from Greek λόγος lógos "knowledge" In the Humanities and Social sciences, critical theory is the examination and critique of Society and Literature, drawing from knowledge across Pragmatism generally considered to have originated in the late nineteenth century with Charles Peirce, who first stated the Pragmatic maxim. He is best known for his work on the concept of the public sphere, which he has based in his theory of communicative action. The public sphere is an area in social life where people can get together and freely discuss and identify societal problems and through that discussion influence political action Communicative action is a Concept associated with the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas. His work has focused on the foundations of social theory and epistemology, the analysis of advanced capitalistic societies and democracy, the rule of law in a critical social-evolutionary context, and contemporary politics -- particularly German politics. Social theory is an essential tool used by scholars in the analysis of society through the use of theoretical frameworks social structures and phenomena are analyzed and placed in context Epistemology (from Greek επιστήμη - episteme, "knowledge" + λόγος, " Logos " or theory of knowledge Advanced capitalism is an expression used to refer to the features of those societies in which the Capitalist model, has been integrated and developed deeply and extensively Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system The rule of law, in its most basic form is the principle that no one is above the law Sociocultural evolution(ism is an umbrella term for theories of cultural evolution and Social evolution, describing how Cultures and societies Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions Habermas's theoretical system is devoted to revealing the possibility of reason, emancipation and rational-critical communication latent in modern institutions and in the human capacity to deliberate and pursue rational interests. Emancipation is a term used to describe various efforts to obtain Political rights or equality, often for a specifically Disenfranchised group or more

Contents

Biography

Habermas was born in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia. Düsseldorf (ˈdʏsəldɔɐf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen usually shortened to NRW, official short form NW is the westernmost and - in terms of population and economic output - the

Until his graduation from gymnasium, Habermas lived in Gummersbach, near Cologne. A gymnasium (pronounced with ɡ- in several languages is a type of school providing Secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar Gummersbach is a city in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, being the district seat of the Oberbergischer Kreis. His father, Ernst Habermas, was executive director of the Cologne Chamber of Industry and Commerce. He studied at the universities of Göttingen (1949/50), Zürich (1950/51), and Bonn (1951–54) and earned a doctorate in philosophy[1] from Bonn in 1954 with a dissertation entitled, Das Absolute und die Geschichte. Von der Zwiespältigkeit in Schellings Denken ("The absolute and history: on the contradiction in Schelling's thought"). Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling ( January 27, 1775 – August 20, 1854) later von Schelling, was a German Philosopher His dissertation committee included Erich Rothacker and Oskar Becker. Erich Rothacker ( March 12, 1888 - August 11, 1965) was a German Philosopher. Oscar Becker (1889-1964 was a German philosopher logician mathematician and historian of mathematics

From 1956 on, he studied philosophy and sociology under the critical theorists Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno at the Institute for Social Research at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, but because of a rift between the two over his dissertation -- Horkheimer had made unacceptable demands for revision -- as well as his own belief that the Frankfurt School had become paralyzed with political skepticism and disdain for modern culture - he finished his habilitation in political science at the University of Marburg under the Marxist Wolfgang Abendroth. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Sociology (from Latin: socius "companion" and the suffix -ology "the study of" from Greek λόγος lógos "knowledge" In the Humanities and Social sciences, critical theory is the examination and critique of Society and Literature, drawing from knowledge across Max Horkheimer (February 14 1895 &ndash July 7 1973 was a German Philosopher and Sociologist, and a founder and guiding thinker of Critical Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno ( September 11, 1903 &ndash August 6, 1969) was a German -born international sociologist The Institute for Social Research ( German: Institut für Sozialforschung) is a research organization covering topics such as Sociology The Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main (also known as Frankfurt University) was founded in 1914 as a Citizens' University which means that while it was A dissertation (also called thesis or disquisition) is a document that presents the author's Research and findings and is submitted in support of candidature The Frankfurt School is a school of neo-Marxist Critical theory, Social research, and Philosophy. Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a person can achieve by their own pursuit in certain European and Asian countries Political science is a branch of Social sciences that deals with the theory and practice of Politics and the description and analysis of Political systems The University of Marburg (Philipps-Universität Marburg 'Philip's University Marburg' was founded in 1527 by Landgrave Philip I of Hesse (usually His habilitation work was entitled, Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit; Untersuchungen zu einer Kategorie der Bürgerlichen Gesellschaft (published in English translation in 1989, the same year as Bruno Ilic, his grandson was born, as The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: an Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society). In 1961, he became a privatdozent in Marburg, and -- in a move that was highly unusual for the German academic scene of that time -- he was offered the position of "extraordinary professor" (professor without chair) of philosophy at the University of Heidelberg (at the instigation of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Karl Löwith) in 1962, which he accepted. Year 1961 ( MCMLXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Private docent (abbreviates PD or Priv-Doz) is a title conferred in some European university systems especially in German -speaking countries The Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg ( University of Heidelberg, Ruperto Carola, Heidelberg University, or simply Heidelberg) is a Hans-Georg Gadamer (ˈgaːdamɐ February 11, 1900 &ndash March 13, 2002) was a German Philosopher of the continental Karl Löwith ( January 9, 1897 in Munich – May 26, 1973 in Heidelberg) was a German - Jewish Philosopher Year 1962 ( MCMLXII) was a Common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. In 1964, strongly supported by Adorno, Habermas returned to Frankfurt to take over Horkheimer's chair in philosophy and sociology. Year 1964 ( MCMLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the 1964 Gregorian calendar.

He accepted the position of Director of the Max Planck Institute in Starnberg (near Munich) in 1971, and worked there until 1983, two years after the publication of his magnum opus, The Theory of Communicative Action. The Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e Starnberg is a town in Bavaria, Germany, located south west of the city of Munich and situated on Lake Starnberg, in the heart of the "Five Munich (München; Minga is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. Year 1971 ( MCMLXXI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar) Magnum opus (sometimes Opus magnum, plural magna opera) from the Latin meaning great work, refers to the best the greatest The Theory of Communicative Action is a book by Jürgen Habermas published in 1981 in two volumes the first subtitled Reason and the Rationalization of Society Habermas then returned to his chair at Frankfurt and the directorship of the Institute for Social Research. Since retiring from Frankfurt in 1993, Habermas has continued to publish extensively. Year 1993 ( MCMXCIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar) In 1986, he received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, which is the highest honour awarded in German research. Year 1986 ( MCMLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar) The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (complete German title de "Förderpreis für deutsche Wissenschaftler im [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz]]-Programm der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft" The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (abbreviated DFG, German Research Foundation in English) is an important German research funding organization He is also a Permanent Visiting Professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and "Theodor Heuss Professor" at The New School, New York. Theodor Heuss ( 31 January 1884 &ndash 12 December 1963) was a German politician This is about the university in New York; for other uses see New School (disambiguation. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous

Habermas visited the People's Republic of China in April 2001. Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES Habermas was also the 2004 Kyoto Laureate in the Arts and Philosophy section. The arts is a broad subdivision of Culture, composed of many expressive disciplines. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language He traveled to San Diego and on March 5, 2005, as part of the University of San Diego's Kyoto Symposium, gave a speech entitled The Public Role of Religion in Secular Context, regarding the evolution of separation of Church and State from neutrality to intense secularism. The University of San Diego is a Roman Catholic University in San Diego, California. A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos A state is a political association with effective Sovereignty over a geographic Area and representing a Population. Secularism is generally the assertion that governmental practices or institutions should exist separately from Religion or religious beliefs He received the 2005 Holberg International Memorial Prize (about € 520 000). The Holberg International Memorial Prize was established in 2003 by the government of Norway with the objective of increasing awareness of the value of academic scholarship within the arts

Teacher and mentor

Habermas is famous as a teacher and mentor. Among his most prominent students have been the political sociologist Claus Offe (professor at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin) , the social philosopher Johann Arnason (professor at La Trobe University and chief editor of the journal Thesis Eleven), the sociological theorist Hans Joas (professor at the University of Erfurt and at the University of Chicago), the theorist of societal evolution Klaus Eder, the social philosopher Axel Honneth (the current director of the Institute for Social Research), the American philosopher Thomas McCarthy, the co-creator of mindful inquiry in social research Jeremy J. Shapiro, and the assassinated Serbian prime minister Zoran Đinđić. Professor Claus Offe (born 1940 in Berlin) is one of the world's leading political sociologists of marxist orientation The '''Hertie School of Governance''' (HSoG is the first privately financed all-English professional school in the German higher education landscape La Trobe University is a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia. Hans Joas (born 1948 is a German Sociologist and Social theorist. The University of Erfurt is a German University History The University of Erfurt was founded in 1392 as the third university in the territory The University of Chicago is a Private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008 Axel Honneth is a professor of philosophy at the University of Frankfurt Germany and director of the Institut für Sozialforschung ( Institute for Social Research) For the defence analyst of the same name see Jeremy Shapiro. Dr Zoran Đinđić, PhD (often Zoran Djindjić, from Serbian Cyrillic: Зоран Ђинђић, /ˈzorɑn ˈdʑɪndʑɪtɕ/ (1 August

Theory

Habermas has constructed a comprehensive framework of social theory and philosophy drawing on a number of intellectual traditions:

Jürgen Habermas considers his own major achievement the development of the concept and theory of communicative reason or communicative rationality, which distinguishes itself from the rationalist tradition by locating rationality in structures of interpersonal linguistic communication rather than in the structure of either the cosmos or the knowing subject. Max Horkheimer (February 14 1895 &ndash July 7 1973 was a German Philosopher and Sociologist, and a founder and guiding thinker of Critical Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno ( September 11, 1903 &ndash August 6, 1969) was a German -born international sociologist Herbert Marcuse ( July 19, 1898 &ndash July 29, 1979) was a German philosopher and sociologist, and a member of Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (maks 'veːbɐ (21 April 1864 &ndash 14 June 1920 was a German political economist and sociologist who was considered Émile Durkheim ( April 15, 1858 – November 15, 1917) was a French Sociologist whose contributions were instrumental George Herbert Mead ( February 27, 1863 – April 26, 1931) was an American Philosopher, Sociologist and Psychologist Ordinary language philosophy is a philosophical school that approached traditional philosophical problems as rooted in misunderstandings philosophers develop by forgetting what words actually Speech act is a technical term in Linguistics and the Philosophy of language. John Langshaw Austin ( March 26, 1911 – February 8, 1960) was a British philosopher of language, born in Lancaster and Sir Peter Frederick Strawson ( 23 November 1919  &ndash 13 February 2006) was an English philosopher Stephen Edelston Toulmin (born March 25, 1922) is a British Philosopher, Author, and Educator. John Rogers Searle (born July 31 1932 in Denver Colorado) is an American Philosopher and the Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University Jean Piaget pjaʒɛ ( August 9, 1896 &ndash September 16, 1980) was a Swiss philosopher, natural scientist Lawrence Kohlberg ( October 25, 1927 – January 19, 1987) was an American Pragmatism generally considered to have originated in the late nineteenth century with Charles Peirce, who first stated the Pragmatic maxim. Charles Sanders Peirce (pronounced purse) (September 10 1839 &ndash April 19 1914 was an American Logician mathematician, philosopher John Dewey (October 20 1859 &ndash June 1 1952 was an American Philosopher, Psychologist, and educational reformer, whose thoughts and ideas have Social structure is a term frequently used in Sociology and Social theory — yet rarely defined or clearly conceptualised (Abercrombie et al Talcott Parsons ( December 13, 1902 - May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist, who served on the faculty of Harvard University Niklas Luhmann ( December 8, 1927 - November 6, 1998) was a German Sociologist, administration expert and a prominent Neo-Kantianism means a revived or modified type of Philosophy along the lines of that laid down by Immanuel Kant in the Eighteenth century or (sometimes Communicative Rationality is a theory or set of theories which try to explain human Rationality as necessary outcomes of successful communication In Epistemology and in its broadest sense rationalism is "any view appealing to Reason as a source of knowledge or justification" (Lacey 286 Rationality as a term is related to the idea of Reason, a word which following Webster's may be derived as much from older terms referring to Communication is the process of conveying information from a sender to a receiver with the use of a medium in which the communicated information is understood the same way In its most general sense a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system This social theory advances the goals of human emancipation, while maintaining an inclusive universalist moral framework. Social theory is an essential tool used by scholars in the analysis of society through the use of theoretical frameworks social structures and phenomena are analyzed and placed in context Emancipation is a term used to describe various efforts to obtain Political rights or equality, often for a specifically Disenfranchised group or more Universalism can be classified as a Religion, Theology and Philosophy that generally holds all persons and creatures are related to God or the Divine and Morality (from the Latin la moralitas "manner character proper behavior" has three principal meanings This framework rests on the argument called universal pragmatics - that all speech acts have an inherent telos (the Greek word for "purpose" or "goal") — the goal of mutual understanding, and that human beings possess the communicative competence to bring about such understanding. Universal pragmatics, more recently placed under the heading of formal pragmatics, is the philosophical study of the necessary conditions for reaching an Understanding Speech act is a technical term in Linguistics and the Philosophy of language. A telos (from the Greek word for "end" "purpose" or "goal" is an end or Purpose, in a fairly constrained sense used by philosophers such as Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Understanding (also called intellection) is a psychological Process related to an abstract or physical object such as Person, situation or Habermas built the framework out of the speech-act philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein, J. L. Austin, and John Searle, the sociological theory of the interactional constitution of mind and self of George Herbert Mead, the theories of moral development of Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg, and the discourse ethics of his Heidelberg colleague Karl-Otto Apel. Speech act is a technical term in Linguistics and the Philosophy of language. John Langshaw Austin ( March 26, 1911 – February 8, 1960) was a British philosopher of language, born in Lancaster and John Rogers Searle (born July 31 1932 in Denver Colorado) is an American Philosopher and the Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University George Herbert Mead ( February 27, 1863 – April 26, 1931) was an American Philosopher, Sociologist and Psychologist Jean Piaget pjaʒɛ ( August 9, 1896 &ndash September 16, 1980) was a Swiss philosopher, natural scientist Lawrence Kohlberg ( October 25, 1927 – January 19, 1987) was an American Discourse ethics, sometimes called "argumentation ethics" refers to a type of Argument that attempts to establish normative or ethical truths by examining the Karl-Otto Apel (born March 15, 1922 in Düsseldorf) is a German philosopher and Professor Emeritus at the University of Frankfurt am Main

He carries forward the traditions of Kant and the Enlightenment and of democratic socialism through his emphasis on the potential for transforming the world and arriving at a more humane, just, and egalitarian society through the realization of the human potential for reason, in part through discourse ethics. The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century Democratic socialism is a description used by various socialist movements tendencies and organizations to emphasize the democratic character of their political orientation Discourse ethics, sometimes called "argumentation ethics" refers to a type of Argument that attempts to establish normative or ethical truths by examining the While Habermas concedes that the Enlightenment is an "unfinished project," he argues it should be corrected and complemented, not discarded. In this he distanced himself from the Frankfurt School, criticizing it, as well as much of postmodernist thought, for excessive pessimism, misdirected radicalism and exaggerations. Postmodernism literally means 'after the modernist movement' While " Modern " itself refers to something "related to the present" the movement of modernism

Within sociology, Habermas's major contribution is the development of a comprehensive theory of societal evolution and modernization focusing on the difference between communicative rationality and rationalization on the one hand and strategic/instrumental rationality and rationalization on the other. Sociocultural evolution(ism is an umbrella term for theories of cultural evolution and Social evolution, describing how Cultures and societies The idea of modernization comes from a view of societies as having a standard Evolutionary pattern as described in the Social evolutionism theories Communicative Rationality is a theory or set of theories which try to explain human Rationality as necessary outcomes of successful communication Two views of instrumental rationality can be discerned in modern philosophy one view comes from Social philosophy and Critical theory, another comes from Natural This includes a critique from a communicative standpoint of the differentiation-based theory of social systems developed by Niklas Luhmann, a student of Talcott Parsons. The word theory has many distinct meanings in different fields of Knowledge, depending on their methodologies and the context of discussion. Social structure is a term frequently used in Sociology and Social theory — yet rarely defined or clearly conceptualised (Abercrombie et al Niklas Luhmann ( December 8, 1927 - November 6, 1998) was a German Sociologist, administration expert and a prominent Talcott Parsons ( December 13, 1902 - May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist, who served on the faculty of Harvard University

His defence of modernity and civil society has been a source of inspiration to others, and is considered a major philosophical alternative to the varieties of poststructuralism. Modernity is a term that refers to the Modern era. It is distinct from Modernism, and in different contexts refers to cultural and intellectual movements of the Civil society is composed of the totality of voluntary civic and social organizations and institutions that form the basis of a functioning Society as opposed to the force-backed Post-structuralism encompasses the intellectual developments of continental philosophers and critical theorists who wrote with tendencies of twentieth-century He has also offered an influential analysis of late capitalism. In his work Late Capitalism Ernest Mandel argues for three periods in the development of Capitalism.

Habermas sees the rationalization, humanization, and democratization of society in terms of the institutionalization of the potential for rationality that is inherent in the communicative competence that is unique to the human species. Democratization ( British English: Democratisation) is the transition to a more democratic Political regime. Communicative competence is a linguistic term which refers to a learner's L2 ability Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus Habermas believes communicative competence has developed through the course of evolution, but in contemporary society it is often suppressed or weakened by the way in which major domains of social life, such as the market, the state, and organizations, have been given over to or taken over by strategic/instrumental rationality, so that the logic of the system supplants that of the lifeworld. eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008 Sao Paulo Stock Exchangejpg|thumb| Virtual market arena where buyer and seller are not present and trade via intemediates and electronical information A state is a political association with effective Sovereignty over a geographic Area and representing a Population. An organization (or organisation &mdash see spelling differences) is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals which controls its own performance and Lifeworld (German Lebenswelt may be conceived as a universe of what is self-evident or given a world that subjects may experience together

The public sphere

For more details on this topic, see public sphere. The public sphere is an area in social life where people can get together and freely discuss and identify societal problems and through that discussion influence political action

Jürgen Habermas wrote extensively on the concept of the public sphere, using accounts of dialogue that took place in coffee houses in 18th century England. The public sphere is an area in social life where people can get together and freely discuss and identify societal problems and through that discussion influence political action A coffeehouse ( French / Portuguese: café; Spanish: cafetería; Italian: caffè It was this public sphere of rational debate on matters of political importance, made possible by the development of the bourgeois culture centered around coffeehouses, intellectual and literary salons, and the print media that helped to make parliamentary democracy possible and which promoted Enlightenment ideals of equality, human rights and justice. A salon is a gathering of stimulating people of quality under the roof of an inspiring hostess or host partly to amuse one another and partly to refine their taste and increase their knowledge through Printing is a process for reproducing text and image typically with ink on Paper using a printing press A parliamentary system, also known as parliamentarianism (and parliamentarism in American English) is a System of government in which The public sphere was guided by a norm of rational argumentation and critical discussion in which the strength of one's argument was more important than one's identity.

According to Habermas, a variety of factors resulted in the eventual decay of the bourgeois public sphere of the Enlightenment. Most importantly, structural forces, particularly the growth of a commercial mass media, resulted in a situation in which media became more of a commodity – something to be consumed – rather than a tool for public discourse. Commerce is a division of trade or production which deals with the exchange of goods and services from producer to final consumer "Popular press" redirects here note that the University of Wisconsin Press publishes under the imprint "The Popular Press" A commodity is anything for which there is demand but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market

In his magnum opus Theory of Communicative Action (1981) he criticized the one-sided process of modernization led by forces of economic and administrative rationalization. Magnum opus (sometimes Opus magnum, plural magna opera) from the Latin meaning great work, refers to the best the greatest The Theory of Communicative Action is a book by Jürgen Habermas published in 1981 in two volumes the first subtitled Reason and the Rationalization of Society Habermas traced the growing intervention of formal systems in our everyday lives as parallel to development of the welfare state, corporate capitalism and the culture of mass consumption. This article refers specifically to the Welfare state of the United Kingdom. Corporate capitalism is a term used in social science and economics to describe a capitalist marketplace characterized by Hierarchical, Bureaucratic organizations Consumerism is the equation of personal Happiness with the purchase of material possessions and consumption. These reinforcing trends rationalize widening areas of public life, submitting them to a generalizing logic of efficiency and control. As routinized political parties and interest groups substitute for participatory democracy, society is increasingly administered at a level remote from input of citizens. As a result, boundaries between public and private, the individual and society, the system and the lifeworld are deteriorating. Lifeworld (German Lebenswelt may be conceived as a universe of what is self-evident or given a world that subjects may experience together Democratic public life only thrives where institutions enable citizens to debate matters of public importance. He describes an ideal type of "ideal speech situation"[1], where actors are equally endowed with the capacities of discourse, recognize each other's basic social equality and speech is undistorted by ideology or misrecognition. Ideal type, also known as pure type or Idealtyp in the original German, is a Typological term most closely associated with Sociologist In the earlier philosophy of Jürgen Habermas it is argued that an ideal speech situation is found within communication between individuals when their speech is governed

Habermas is optimistic about the possibility of the revival of the public sphere. He sees hope for the future in the new era of political community that transcends the nation-state based on ethnic and cultural likeness for one based on the equal rights and obligations of legally vested citizens. This discursive theory of democracy requires a political community which can collectively define its political will and implement it as policy at the level of the legislative system. Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society This political system requires an activist public sphere, where matters of common interest and political issues can be discussed, and the force of public opinion can influence the decision-making process. A political system is a System of Politics and Government. It is usually compared to the Law system, Economic system, Cultural

Several noted academics have provided various criticisms of Habermas's notions regarding the public sphere. John B. Thompson, a Professor of Sociology at the University of Cambridge, has pointed out that Habermas's notion of the public sphere is antiquated due to the proliferation of mass-media communications. John B Thompson is a Sociology professor at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Jesus College. Sociology (from Latin: socius "companion" and the suffix -ology "the study of" from Greek λόγος lógos "knowledge" The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University) located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the Michael Schudson from the University of California, San Diego argues more generally that a public sphere as a place of purely rational independent debate never existed. Michael Schudson is an American academic Sociologist working in the fields of Journalism and its history and public culture The University of California San Diego (popularly known as UC San Diego or UCSD) is a public Research university in San Diego, California Debate ( American English) or debating ( British English) is a formal method of interactive and position representational Argument.

Historikerstreit (Historians' Quarrel)

Main article: Historikerstreit

Habermas is famous as a public intellectual as well as a scholar; most notably, in the 1980s he used the popular press to attack the German historians Ernst Nolte, Michael Stürmer, and Andreas Hillgruber. The Historikerstreit (“historians' quarrel” was an intellectual and political controversy in West Germany about the way the Holocaust should be interpreted in An intellectual (from the adjective meaning "involving thought and reason" is a person who tries to use his or her Intelligence and analytical thinking, "Popular press" redirects here note that the University of Wisconsin Press publishes under the imprint "The Popular Press" Ernst Nolte (born 11 January 1923) is a German Historian and Philosopher, whose primary interest is the comparative study of Michael Stürmer (born September 29 1938) is a German historian Andreas Fritz Hillgruber (January 18 1925 - May 8 1989 was a conservative West German Historian. Habermas first expressed his views on the above-mentioned historians in the Die Zeit newspaper on July 11, 1986 in a feuilleton (opinion piece) entitled “A Kind of Settlement of Damages”. DIE ZEIT (diː tsait in German literally The Time more idiomatically The Times) is a German nationwide weekly Newspaper that Feuilleton (a Diminutive of French feuillet, the leaf of a book was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of Habermas criticized the three historians for “apologistic” history writing in regards to the Nazi era, and for seeking to “close Germany’s opening to the West” that in Habermas’s view had existed since 1945[2]. He argued that they had tried to detach Nazi rule and the Holocaust from the mainstream of German history, explain away Nazism as a reaction to Bolshevism, and partially rehabilitate the reputation of the Wehrmacht (German Army) during World War II. Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as Despite the lack of a German nation state prior to 1871 the History of Germany dates back to the era of the Germanic tribes. The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists ( Большевик Большевист (singular, derived from bolshe, "more" were a faction Wehrmacht (literally "defense force" was the name of the unified Armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945 World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The so-called Historikerstreit ("Historians' Quarrel") was not at all one-sided, because Habermas was himself attacked by scholars like Joachim Fest and Klaus Hildebrand[3]

Habermas and Derrida

Habermas and Jacques Derrida engaged in somewhat acrimonious disputes beginning in the 1980s and culminating in a mutual refusal to participate in extended debate and a tendency to talk past one another. Joachim Clemens Fest ( December 8, 1926 &ndash September 11, 2006) German historian journalist critic and editor is best known for Klaus Hildebrand (born 1941 Bielefeld, Germany) is a German conservative Historian whose area of expertise is 19th-20th German Following Habermas' publication of "Beyond a Temporalized Philosophy of Origins: Derrida" (in The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity), Derrida, citing Habermas as an example, remarked that, "those who have accused me of reducing philosophy to literature or logic to rhetoric . . . have visibly and carefully avoided reading me" ("Is There a Philosophical Language?" p. 218, in Points. . . ). Others prominent in postmodern thought, notably Jean-François Lyotard, engaged in more extended polemics against Habermas, whereas Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe found these polemics counterproductive. Postmodernism literally means 'after the modernist movement' While " Modern " itself refers to something "related to the present" the movement of modernism Jean-François Lyotard (ʒɑ̃ fʀɑ̃swa ljɔˈtaʀ August 10 1924 April 21 1998) was a French philosopher and literary Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe ( March 6, 1940, Tours &ndash January 27 2007, Paris) was a French philosopher In hindsight, these contentious exchanges contributed to divisions within continental philosophy by focusing too heavily on a purported opposition between modernism and postmodernism — these terms were occasionally elevated to totemic if not cosmological importance in the 1980s, due in no small part to works by Lyotard and Habermas and their often enthusiastic and sometimes incautious reception in American universities. Continental philosophy, in contemporary usage refers to a set of traditions of 19th and 20th century philosophy from mainland Europe Modernism describes an array of Cultural movements rooted in the changes in Western society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Postmodernism literally means 'after the modernist movement' While " Modern " itself refers to something "related to the present" the movement of modernism A totem is any supposed entity that watches over or assists a group of people such as a family Clan or tribe ( Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and Webster's Cosmology (from Greek grc κοσμολογία - grc κόσμος kosmos, "universe" and grc -λογία -logia) is study It may be suggested that schematic terminology like "poststructuralism", trafficked heavily in the United States but virtually unknown in France, found expression in Habermas' understanding of his French contemporaries, bringing with them the baggage of the "culture wars" raging within American academic circles at the time. Post-structuralism encompasses the intellectual developments of continental philosophers and critical theorists who wrote with tendencies of twentieth-century The culture war (or culture wars) in American usage is a metaphor used to claim that political conflict is based on sets of conflicting values In short: although the differences between Habermas and Derrida (if not deconstruction generally) were profound but not necessarily irreconcilable, they were fueled by polemical responses to mischaracterizations of those differences, which in turn sharply inhibited meaningful discussion.

In the aftermath of 9/11, Derrida and Habermas established a limited political solidarity and put their previous disputes behind them in the interest of "friendly and open-minded interchange," as Habermas put it. After laying out their individual opinions on 9/11 in Giovanna Borradori's Philosophy in a Time of Terror: Dialogues with Jürgen Habermas and Jacques Derrida, Derrida wrote a foreword expressing his unqualified subscription to Habermas's declaration, "February 15, or, What Binds Europeans Together: Plea for a Common Foreign Policy, Beginning in Core Europe,” in Old Europe, New Europe, Core Europe (Verso, 2005). Giovanna Borradori (born Milan, Italy, in 1963 is Professor of Philosophy at Vassar College. Habermas has offered further context for this declaration in an interview. Quite distinct from this, Geoffrey Bennington, a close associate of Derrida's, has in a further conciliatory gesture offered an account of deconstruction intended to provide some mutual intelligibility. Geoffrey Bennington (born 1956 is Asa Griggs Candler Professor of French and Professor of Comparative Literature Emory University, as well as a member of the International Derrida was already extremely ill by the time the two had begun their new exchange, and the two were not able to develop this such that they could substantially revisit previous disagreements or find more profound terms of discussion before Derrida's death. Nevertheless, this late collaboration has encouraged some scholars to revisit the positions, recent and past, of both thinkers, vis-a-vis the other.

Jürgen Habermas stunned his admirers not long ago with the following characterization of egalitarian universalism:

Christianity has functioned for the normative self-understanding of modernity as more than a mere precursor or a catalyst. Egalitarianism (derived from the French word égal, meaning equal) is a political doctrine that holds that all people should be treated as equals and have Universalism can be classified as a Religion, Theology and Philosophy that generally holds all persons and creatures are related to God or the Divine and Egalitarian universalism, from which sprang the ideas of freedom and social solidarity, of an autonomous conduct of life and emancipation, of the individual morality of conscience, human rights, and democracy, is the direct heir to the Judaic ethic of justice and the Christian ethic of love. This legacy, substantially unchanged, has been the object of continual critical appropriation and reinterpretation. To this day, there is no alternative to it. And in the light of the current challenges of a postnational constellation, we continue to draw on the substance of this heritage. Everything else is just idle postmodern talk.

– "Conversation about God and the World. " Time of transitions. Cambridge: Polity Press 2006, p. 150-151

Habermas and Bourdieu

A case of affective exclusion?

Pierre Bourdieu could be seen to have taken Foucaults mantle after his death and comes from a sociological tradition which would appear to be close to Habermas. Pierre Bourdieu ( August 1, 1930 – January 23, 2002) was an acclaimed French Sociologist and writer known for his Bourdieus analysis of culture should be of value in contributing to the cultural aporia of TCA with its sociological and empirical base, but Habermas's assistant Axel Honneth made a devastating critique of Bourdieu's position in the Eighties which seems to have closed any possibility of collaboration (1986, Theory, culture and Society 3, 3, p55) According to Honneth, Bourdieu's theoretical structure never broke free from the Philosophy of Consciousness and the Marxist theory of labour in spite of its sociological heritage. ( For Habermas's subtle critique of Marx's Theory of Labour Value see Habermas's 'Knowledge and Human Interests')

Bourdieu's concept of Cultural Capital does not arise from rational processes of human communication but from the mechanistic logics of capitalist production /distribution in which culture becomes a currency. In his recent 'Bourdieu and Culture', Derek Robbins points out that the Habermas camp take a highly theoreticist reading of Bourdieu, who does not claim theoretical coherence but takes a post-Foucauldian position in regarding critique as habitus (see Robbins, 2000, p125). Bourdieu claims that theoretical critique needs to be more reflexive of its own social conditions of production. He casts Habermas as an ideologue chasing the intellectual profits of universalism. "The ideologue is the one who posits as universal, as disinterested, that which is in accordance with their particular interest. " Bourdieu, Practical Reason, transl. 1998 (orig. 1994) p89.

On the same page he goes on to accuse Habermas of making a metaphysical hypothesis disguised as an empirical statement; he later calls his theory a 'transcendental illusion' and a 'glorification of rational dialogue' (p139).

This spat seems tragic as both theoreticians seem to need each other. Habermas needs Bourdieu because TCA needs to extend into the cultural areas of reaching agreement to find an empirical basis for overcoming the aporia of judgement. Bourdieu needs Habermas because a commodity theory of cultural meaning is profoundly disempowering however refreshing the reflexivity that produced it.

Habermas doesn't even mention Bourdieu in TCA. The point of contact in the early eighties becomes a rebuff. Axel Honneth interviewed Bourdieu, during which he told Bourdieu that despite the similarity with Habermas of intellectual starting places and aims, due to a fundamental conceptual error his, Bourdieu's, theoretical stance is fatally flawed.

Here we might imagine the missing somatic dimension to this sad story. The two intellectual giants cannot stand the frustrating lack of fit between their two theories. The rules of their episteme require that they attack each other. Any potential of discourse towards understanding, which could have made for a new definition of left politics, is broken by what are essential issues of soma. Or at least the emotions involved in such a spat, on which there is of course silence, could well have contributed to the continued breakdown in communication.

The point of this imagined reconstruction is to show how European intellectual academic discourse has no techniques to negotiate or surmount the emotional difficulties that are undoubtedly caused by such events as attacks. It's theories are inadequate to surmount the problems that beset its own practice. Emotion self-evidently has its place in argument. But the historical construction of literary discourse excludes emotion as a lower realm which has been banished and cannot be reintroduced without a threat to the rational order. A rationality which conspires to exclude women amongst others, whose culture relates closely to such meanings, from the discourses that produce western knowledge. (D'Entreves and Benhabib, 1996, p26)

"Although Haberams acknowledges that the body situates and thus contextualises our knowledge, his discursive redemptions are never the result of an embodied knowing in this way and so reason's incarnate legacy is not acknowledged by him. " (Diana Coole in D'Entreves and Benhabib, 1996, p232)

Dialogue with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI)

In early 2007, Ignatius Press published a dialogue between Habermas and Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI), entitled The Dialectics of Secularization. Pope Benedict XVI ( Latin: Benedictus PP XVI; Italian: Benedetto XVI; German: Benedikt XVI; born Joseph Alois Ratzinger It addresses such important contemporary questions as these: Is a public culture of reason and ordered liberty possible in our post-metaphysical age? Is philosophy permanently cut adrift from its grounding in being and anthropology? Does this decline of rationality signal an opportunity or a deep crisis for religion itself?

Major works

References

Notes

  1. ^ http://www.erz.uni-hannover.de/~horster/lit/habermas.pdf
  2. ^ Habermas, Jürgen “A Kind of Settlement of Damages On Apologetic Tendencies In German History Writing” pages 34-44 from Forever In the Shadow of Hitler? edited by Ernst Piper, Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands, 1993 page 43
  3. ^ Hildebrand, Klaus "The Age of Tyrants: History and Politics" pages 50-55 from Forever In The Shadow of Hitler? edited by Ernst Piper, Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, 1993 pages 54-55 & Fest, Joachim "Encumbered Remembrance: The Controversy about the Incomparability of National-Socialist Mass Crimes" pages 63-71 from Forever In The Shadow of Hitler? edited by Ernst Piper, Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, 1993 pages 64-65.

Sources

A highly regarded interpretation in English of Habermas's earlier work, written just as Habermas was developing his full-fledged communication theory.
A clear account of Habermas' early philosophical views.
A recent, brief introduction to Habermas, focusing on his communication theory of society.
A recent and comprehensive introduction to Habermas' mature theory and its political implications both national and global.

Awards

See also

External links


Persondata
NAME Habermas, Jürgen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION German philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1929 (1929-06-18) (age 78)
PLACE OF BIRTH Düsseldorf, Germany
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Craig Calhoun is an American Sociologist. He has been President of the Social Science Research Council since 1999 Robert Neelly Bellah, born February 23, 1927, in Altus Oklahoma, United States, is an American sociologist, now the Elliott Professor Events 618 - Coronation of the Chinese governor Li Yuan as Emperor Gaozu of Tang, the new Emperor of China, initiating three centuries Year 1929 ( MCMXXIX) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Düsseldorf (ˈdʏsəldɔɐf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe.
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