Consolidation of Postmetaphysical Thinking

Simon Susen is Professor of Sociology at City St George’s, University of London. He is Associate Member of the Bauman Institute and, together with Bryan S. Turner, Editor of the Journal of Classical Sociology.

‘At an age when many devote themselves to writing their memoirs, Jürgen Habermas undertook the formidable task of retracing the history of Western philosophy. He did so not as a detached scholar but, rather, as a way of engaging with the vast intellectual edifice he himself had built and of situating it within that broader history. For us, as sociologists, there remained an urgent need for the rigorous and authoritative work that Simon Susen now provides – one that repositions this history of philosophy not only within the Habermasian corpus but also within the landscape of the contemporary social sciences. Only Simon Susen’s intellectual boldness and wide-ranging expertise could meet this challenge, bridging the widening gulf within our disciplines between philosophy, social theory, and empirical research.’Luc Boltanski, Directeur d’études, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France‘Simon Susen’s comprehensive and deeply thoughtful engagement with Jürgen Habermas’s magnum opus, Also a History of Philosophy, is far more than a commentary on an important work of contemporary critical thought. In unpacking Habermas’s project, Susen offers an engrossing and incisive reflection on the intellectual legacies we inherit – and on the ways in which they shape our self-understanding as moderns.’Simone Chambers, Professor of Political Science, University of California, Irvine, USA‘A welcome and important book. Simon Susen offers the clearest account available in English of Habermas’s views – not only on the history of philosophy but also on modernity, the relationship between faith and knowledge, and the future of freedom and the Enlightenment project. Perhaps the pre-eminent thinker of our era, Habermas has engaged with both public affairs and the most profound intellectual questions for more than 70 years. Most scholars who believe they understand his perspective have dipped only into one earlier phase of his work; Susen sheds light on the whole.’Craig Calhoun, University Professor of Social Sciences, Arizona State University, USA‘This superb book combines a meticulous and very readable summary of Habermas's Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie with a comprehensive presentation of constructive critical comments. The summary part draws a number of connections which are not explicit in Habermas's text or are lost in the details of his argument, while the critical comments should shape subsequent discussions on the relationship between faith and knowledge.’William Outhwaite, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Newcastle University, UK

• Habermas’s Second Intermediate Reflection: The Caesura of the Separation of Faith and Knowledge a. The Development of Philosophy With, through, and beyond Theology b. The Development of Political and Legal Philosophy c. The Development of the Natural Sciences d. The End of the Age of World Pictures i. Kant ii. Hume iii. Kant vs. Hume VIII. Towards the Consolidation of Postmetaphysical Thinking The Enlightenment Project via Hume and Kant IX. The Linguistic Embodiment of Reason in History and Society From ‘Subjective Spirit’ to ‘Objective Spirit’ Habermas’s Third Intermediate Reflection From ‘Objective Spirit’ to ‘Communicative Action’ a. The Hegelian Concept of ‘Totality’ – A Formal-Pragmatic Interpretation b. The Paradigm Shift from the Philosophy of Consciousness to the Philosophy of Language c. Detranscendentalization – with, against, and beyond the Hegelian System i. Language and Intersubjectivity ii. The Mode of ‘Empowering Dependence’ iii. Being-in-the-World through a ‘Milieu of Reasons’ iv. The Human Interest in the Rationality of Reason X. Postmetaphysical Thinking after Hegel 1. Feuerbach 2. Marx 3. Kierkegaard 4. Peirce 5. Reason(ing) in Research and Politics Postscript Epistemological Non-Circumventability 1. Pragmatic Attitudes and Language Use 2. Cognitive and Moral-Practical Learning Processes 3. Reason and Progress 4. Rational Freedom Epilogue 1. Why Bother with Faith and Knowledge? 2. Hume and Kant: Two Alternative Paths towards Postmetaphysical Thinking? 3. Why ‘Also’ a History of Philosophy? 4. The (De)Socialization of World Pictures: The Goalless Direction of a ‘Non-Teleological Teleology’? 5. Towards the Detranscendentalization of Reason and the Emancipation of Freedom? 6. The Motivational Power(lessness) of Rational Morality? 7. Reason in History A Never-Ending Learning Process?