Critique 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

• Critical Reflections 1. ‘World’ and ‘Reality’ 2. Experience and Reason 3. Positivism and Interpretivism 4. Direct Access and Indirect Access 5. Demographics 6. Rationalism 7. Socio-Ontological Optimism 8. The Power of Dominant Ideologies 9. Dichotomies 10. Ethnocentrism 11. Modernity 12. Evolutionism 13. Ordinary vs. Scientific? 14. Crisis as a Source of Emancipation 15. Religion, Philosophy, and the World 16. Reason, Power, and Society 17. Between Behavioural, Ideological, and Institutional Developments 18. The Concept of ‘Humanity’ 19. Language 20. Labour 21. Worlds 22. Science 23. The Public Sphere 24. Kant vs. Hume 25. Habermas with or without Bourdieu? 26. Minorities vs. Majorities 27. Constitutional Patriotism 28. Democracy and Capitalism 29. Naïve Cosmopolitanism? 30. Knowledge and Faith 31. World Pictures [Weltbilder] or Worldviews [Weltanschauungen]? 32. Religion: Definitions, Typologies, and Functions