Member of a school or exponent of a paradigm? Jürgen Habermas and critical theory

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 252-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Müller-Doohm
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Communication Theory ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Jürgen Habermas ◽  
The Public ◽  
Jurgen Habermas ◽  
Constitutional State ◽  
The Public Sphere

The label ‘Frankfurt School’ became popular in the ‘positivism dispute’ in the mid-1960s, but this article shows that it is wrong to describe Jürgen Habermas as representing a ‘second generation’ of exponents of critical theory. His communication theory of society is intended not as a transformation of, but as an alternative to, the older tradition of thought represented by Adorno and Horkheimer. The novel and innovative character of Habermas’s approach is demonstrated in relation to three thematic complexes: (1) the public sphere and language; (2) democracy and the constitutional state; and (3) system and lifeworld as categories for a theory of modernity.

What Scope for Ethics in the Public Sphere? Principled Autonomy and the Antinomy of Practical Reason

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-498
Author(s):  
Maureen Junker-Kenny
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Practical Reason ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Public Reason ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Jürgen Habermas ◽  
The Public ◽  
Jurgen Habermas ◽  
The Public Sphere

Concepts of ‘public reason’ vary according to the underlying understandings of theoretical and practical reason; they make a difference to what can be argued for in the public sphere as justified expectations to oneself and fellow-citizens. What is the significance for the scope of ethics when two neo-Kantian theorists of public reason, John Rawls and Jürgen Habermas, propose a reduced reading of the ‘antinomy’ highlighted in Kant’s analysis of practical reason? The desire for meaning, unrelinquishable for humans, is frustrated when moral initiatives are met with hostility. Kant resolves the antinomy between morality and happiness by invoking the concept of a creator God whose concern that our anticipatory moral actions should not fail encourages the hope on which human agency relies. Defining the scope of ethics by the unconditional character of reason ( Vernunft) rules out the minimisation of ethics to what can safely be expected to be delivered.

Behind the Mask of the Secular

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 153-175
Author(s):  
Masayoshi Sumika
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Religious Language ◽  
World War ◽  
Jürgen Habermas ◽  
The Public ◽  
Jurgen Habermas ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Do So

Jürgen Habermas, who popularized the concept of the “post-secular,” advocates that all citizens should be free to decide whether they want to use religious language in the public sphere. However, he adds the proviso that citizens who do so must accept that religious utterances ought to be translated into generally accessible language. Habermas presents this concept of “translation”—or the institutional translation proviso—as a way of bringing religious citizens into the public sphere. In his opinion, the public sphere and/or public institutions should not be open to any movement that tries to legitimize the nation on religious grounds. This paper shows that we can find logic and rhetoric that correspond to Habermas’s proviso in courtroom arguments over religion in Japan after World War II. By surveying these disputes, this paper examines whether or not the intended aims of the institutional translation proviso are achieved.

The Hijab Debate in the Norwegian Press: Secular or Religious Arguments?

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cora Alexa Døving
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Jürgen Habermas ◽  
Translation Process ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Religious Motivation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Religious Symbols ◽  
Jurgen Habermas ◽  
The Public Sphere

Do religious debaters challenge the secular public sphere? This article is an analysis of the largest religion related debate in Norway: the debate about the hijab and the use of religious symbols in the public sphere. The article is empirically founded on the debates in 2009 that began with the question about to which degree the hijab could become part of the Norwegian police uniform for those who would wish to use it. The analysis is mainly centred on the arguments of the hijab wearers: to what degree is their religious motivation translated into a secular language? The empirical examination will show that Muslim debaters arguments can be characterized by a striking absence of references to religious concepts, and a just as striking use of secular ones. The article suggests that the lack of religious argumentation is an expression of an Islamic secularism rather than a result of a translation process. The hijab wearer's arguments are presented in the light of John Rawls’ and Jürgen Habermas’ thoughts about the need for translation—and its price.

The Institutionalization of Reason

2005 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 95-104
Author(s):  
Frederick Rauscher
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Jürgen Habermas ◽  
The Public ◽  
Jurgen Habermas ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The Public Sphere

Kant's description of an enlightened society as involving the free use of reason in public debate has received due attention in recent work on Kant. When thinking of Kant's view of Enlightenment, one now conjures up the image of free persons speaking their mind in what is now often called the ‘public sphere’. Jürgen Habermas is well known for taking Kant to be committed to wide participation of individuals in public debate. Kant's own suggestion for a motto for the Enlightenment, ‘Sapere aude’, seems to speak to all citizens when urging them to ‘Have courage to make use of your own understanding’ (8: 35).

scholarly journals Transnational Discourses between Facts and Norms. Toward a Two-Track Model of the Public Sphere

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica Gregoratto
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Critical Power ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Jürgen Habermas ◽  
The Public ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Jurgen Habermas ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
The Public Sphere

This paper investigates how and to which extent the model of the liberal public sphere, firstly outlined by Jürgen Habermas and later developed by some of his scholars, can be translated into a global context. Such an idea of a transnational publicity will be considered both from a normative idealizing perspective, according to which the discursive public activities aim at legitimizing actual democratizing processes beyond the national boundaries, and from a diagnostic perspective, which focuses on the critical power that post-national publics exercise against relations of domination on the global level. In order to maintain both perspectives, and to question the Habermasian preference for the normative one, I am proposing a two-track model of the transnational public sphere illustrating how ideal and normative aspects are interwoven with factual and non-ideal ones.

scholarly journals Facebook as a Digital Public Sphere: Processes of Colonization and Emancipation

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bjarki Valtysson
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Data Use ◽  
Jürgen Habermas ◽  
The Public ◽  
Jurgen Habermas ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Communicative Space

In this article, Facebook, as a communicative space, is treated as a public sphere in order to identify processes of colonization and emancipation. The analysis focuses on Facebook’s communicative-structural contexts, in particular from the viewpoint of user terms, user manoeuvre, privacy/data use policy, and ownership and use of uploaded material. The analysis is also based on qualitative data from Danish Facebook users, where the focus was on the users’ motivation and use, their perceptions of ownership and consumerism, as well as their views on the public/private distinction that Facebook allows for/commands for. Theoretically, the article is grounded in Jürgen Habermas’ various writings on the public sphere, as well as ‘digital adaptations’ to his theory. When looked upon from the communicative-structural contexts, processes of colonization are apparent, particularly in the various grey zones identified in Facebook’s privacy/data use policy, its state-ments of rights and responsibilities and in the fashion in which users are treated as consumers. Even though the Danish Facebook users identified with this, they still conceive of Facebook as being an emancipative communicative space, as they prioritize different features of Facebook, namely networking, practical organisation, maintaining friendships, and leisure.

scholarly journals The Governmentality of Promoting Ex-Gay “Change” in the Public Sphere

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Thorn
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Jürgen Habermas ◽  
The Public ◽  
Commercial Media ◽  
Jurgen Habermas ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Gay Movement ◽  
Conservative Christians ◽  
Analyse De Discours

Background  A long-term “earned media” marketing strategy deployed by the Christian ex-gay movement backfired and now generates mostly negative media against the movement.Analysis  A governmental discourse analysis is used to examine media coverage representing conservative Christians struggling against unwanted same-sex desire. It does so in relation to Jürgen Habermas’ (2006) analysis of commercial media and Anna McCarthy’s (2007) notion of “neoliberal theatre of suffering.”Conclusion and implications  Media coverage of the ex-gay debate showcases suffering as entertainment and does not achieve the full reasoned deliberation Habermas calls for in the public sphere. Nevertheless, it has not led to a paralysis of society’s ability to debate the issue of ex-gay “change.” Competing governmental perspectives still intersect and modify each other in ways that extend beyond mere commercialism.Contexte  La stratégie de marketing à long terme adoptée par le mouvement ex-gay chrétien a échoué, et de nos jours elle reçoit généralement une couverture médiatique négative.Analyse  Une analyse de discours gouvernemental sert à examiner la couverture médiatique de chrétiens conservateurs qui essaient de réprimer leur attirance pour des personnes du même sexe. La démarche adoptée s’inspire de l’analyse des médias commerciaux effectuée par Jürgen Habermas et de l’idée de « théâtre néolibéral de la souffrance » formulée par Anna McCarthy.Conclusion et implications  Dans les médias, la couverture du débat ex-gay exploite la souffrance à des fins de divertissement, ne permettant pas une délibération raisonnable dans la sphère publique du type prôné par Habermas. Néanmoins, cette couverture n’a pas paralysé la capacité qu’a la société à débattre la question du « changement » ex-gay. Par exemple, des perspectives gouvernementales divergentes continuent à se croiser et se modifier de manières qui dépassent le simple commercialisme.   

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