Jürgen Habermas – författare

Jürgen Habermas’s book The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, first published in 1962, has long been recognized as one of the most important works of twentieth-century social thought. Blending philosophy and social history, it offered an account of the public sphere as a domain that mediates between civil society and the state in which citizens could discuss matters of common concern and participate in democratic decision-making through the formation of public opinion.  Now, in view of the digital revolution and the resulting crisis of democracy, he returns to this important topic.In this new book Habermas focuses on digital media, in particular social media, which are increasingly relegating traditional mass media to the background. While the new media initially promised to empower users, this promise is being undermined by their algorithm-steered platform structure that promotes self-enclosed informational ‘bubbles’ and discursive ‘echo chambers’ in which users split into a plurality of pseudo-publics that are largely closed off from one other. Habermas argues that, without appropriate regulation of digital media, this new structural transformation is in danger of hollowing out the institutions through which democracies can shape social and economic processes and address urgent collective problems, ranging from growing social inequality to the climate crisis.

Jürgen Habermas (f. 1929) har alltsedan 1960-talet publicerat en rad filosofiska och samhällsteoretiska arbeten, som grundlagt hans ställning som Frankfurtskolans ledande gestalt under efterkrigstiden. Hans magnifika genombrottsverk Borgerlig offentlighet från 1962 är en brett upplagd historisk och sociologisk undersökning av hur den tidiga borgerligheten skapar den moderna åtskillnaden mellan "privat" och "offentligt", varvid offentligheten tilldelas rollen som kritisk granskare av statens verksamhet. Habermas visar på ett fascinerande sätt hur kapitalismens utveckling och de samhälleliga motsättningarna undergräver möjligheterna till en sådan kritisk kontroll. Samtidigt förskjuts de tidigare gränserna mellan "privat" och "offentligt" på nya och oväntade sätt. Denna bok är en självklar utgångspunkt för alla intresserade av masskommunikation och massmedier; för alla som vill förstå förutsättningarna för den moderna litteraturens uppkomst; för alla utforskare av det "offentliga rummet": stadens, gatans och torgets ideologiska budskap; för de aktuella diskussionerna om den offentliga sektorn, välfärdssamhället och socialstaten. I en utförlig inledning ger Mats Dahlkvist en klargörande presentation av bokens centrala teman.

Den mogne Habermas teori om det kommunikativa handlandet går tillbaka på ett antal ansatser under sjuttiotalet, efter hans språkfilosofiska vändning. Att långsamt följa dessa ofta trevande steg är på flera sätt att föredra framför att kastas rakt in i Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns, som till stora delar var en summering med smärre korrigeringar av vad som redan föregripits i andra texter. Den aktuella antologin fyller på så sätt ett antal hål för den som inte följt med från början... Ett flertal översättare har varit engagerade i att få Habermas knaggliga vetenskapsprosa till läslig svenska. Den blir med nödvändighet sällan vacker, men trogen. Som spindel i nätet har Anders Molander fungerat, i egenskap av redaktör och medöversättare måste han ha utfört något av ett hästarbete. Resultatet har blivit i allt beundransvärt och exemplariskt. /Anders Ramsay, Res Publica

År 1962 utkom Jürgen Habermas första bok, "Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit" (på svenska "Borgerlig offentlighet"), som blivit en modern klassiker och utövat ett stort inflytande inom olika discipliner. Mot bakgrund av sin långt senare utvecklade teori om demokrati och rättsstat återvänder Habermas nu till sitt gamla tema, offentligheten som ett delat rum för meningsutbyte. 1962 handlade det om utvecklingen från den borgerliga offentlighet som föddes på 1700-talet till massdemokratiernas medieoffentlighet. Nu är det den digitaliserade offentligheten och dess plattformar som han tar sig an. Hans bekymmer är att denna nya strukturomvandling, där de traditionella redigerade mass­medierna trängs undan, hotar att underminera själva offentligheten och därmed villkoren för demokratisk deliberation. Vid sidan av denna huvudtext diskuterar Habermas i en intervju och en kommentar invändningar mot den deliberativa demokratiteorin. Jürgen Habermas, född 1929, var filosofiprofessor i Frankfurt am Main. 2019 utkom hans tvåbandsverk "Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie", som rekonstruerar filosofihistorien i ljuset av förhållandet mellan tro och vetande. Av Jürgen Habermas har Daidalos tidigare utgivit: "Kommunikativt handlande" (1990), "Diskurs, rätt och demokrati" (1997), "Den postnationella konstellationen" (2001), "Den mänskliga naturens framtid" (2003) och "Den moraliska synpunkten" (2008).

In this book Jürgen Habermas offers a wide-ranging reflection on his life and work and on the factors that shaped the development of his thought. He discusses the motives behind his work, the circumstances under which it emerged and the changes it has undergone over the course of his long and productive career. He speaks about the events and the texts that played a decisive role in his thinking and he recounts key encounters with colleagues. The image that emerges is that of a richly intertwined network of relationships which covers large swathes of the intellectual map of the twentieth century and reaches through to the present day.Looking back at the development of his thought, Habermas discusses the specific historical circumstances that shaped his generation, identifies key experiences with his intellectual mentors, explores recent historical tendencies and political beliefs and talks about his own scholarly works and their reception. Time and again we see the normative impulse that lies behind so much of Habermas’s work: ‘I view the attempt to make the world even the tiniest bit better, or even just to be part of the effort to stave off the constant threats of regression that we face, as an utterly admirable motive.’This autobiographical self-reflection by one of the greatest philosophers of our time will be of interest to a wide readership.

This study offers a systematic reconstruction of the theoretical foundations and framework of critical social theory. It is Habermas' "magnum opus", and it is regarded as one of the most important works of modern social thought. In this second and final volume of the work, Habermas examines the relations between action concepts and systems theory and elaborates a framework for analyzing the developmental tendencies of modern societies. He discusses in detail the work of Marx, Durkheim, G.H. Mead and Talcott Parsons, among others. By distinguishing between social systems and what he calls the "life-world", Habermas is able to analyze the ways in which the development of social systems impinges upon the symbolic and subjective dimensions of social life, resulting in the kind of crises, conflicts and protest movements which are characteristic of advanced capitalist societies in the late-20th century.

Here, for the first time in English, is volume one of Jurgen Habermas's long-awaited magnum opus: The Theory of Communicative Action. This pathbreaking work is guided by three interrelated concerns: (1) to develop a concept of communicative rationality that is no longer tied to the subjective and individualistic premises of modern social and political theory; (2) to construct a two-level concept of society that integrates the 'lifeworld' and 'system' paradigms; and (3) to sketch out a critical theory of modernity that explains its sociopathologies in a new way. Habermas approaches these tasks through a combination of conceptual analyses, systematic reflections, and critical reconstructions of such predecessors as Marx and Weber, Durkheim and Mead, Horkheimer and Adorno, Schutz and Parsons. Reason and the Rationalization of Society develops a sociological theory of action that stresses not its means-ends or teleological aspect, but the need to coordinate action socially via communication. In the introductory chapter Habermas sets out a powerful series of arguments on such foundational issues as cultural and historical relativism, the methodology of Verstehen, the inseparabilty of interpretation from critique. In addition to clarifying the normative foundations of critical social inquiry, this sets the stage for a systematic appropriation of Weber's theory of rationalization and its Marxist reception by Lukacs, Horkheimer and Adorno.This is an important book for degree students of philosophy, sociology and related subjects.

On the occasion of Habermas’s 80th birthday, the German publisher Suhrkamp brought out five volumes of Habermas’s papers that spanned the full range of his philosophical thought, from the theory of rationality to the critique of metaphysics. For each of these volumes, Habermas wrote an introduction that crystallized, in a remarkably clear and succinct way, his thinking on the key philosophical issues that have preoccupied him throughout his long career. This new book by Polity brings together these five introductions and publishes them in translation for the first time. The resulting volume provides a unique and comprehensive overview of Habermas’s philosophy in his own words. In the five chapters that make up this volume, Habermas discusses the concept of communicative action and the grounding of the social sciences in the theory of language; the relationship between rationality and the theory of language; discourse ethics; political theory and problems of democracy and legitimacy; and the critique of reason and the challenge posed by religion in a secular age. The volume includes a substantial introduction by Jean-Marc Durand-Gasselin, which offers a synoptic view of the development of Habermas’s thought as a whole followed by concise accounts of his contributions in each of the areas mentioned. Together they provide the reader with the necessary background to understand Habermas’s distinctive and original contribution to philosophy.Philosophical Introductions will be an indispensable text for students and scholars in philosophy and in the humanities and social sciences generally, as well as anyone interested in the most important developments in philosophy and critical theory today.

The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere represents a rare opportunity to experience a diverse group of preeminent philosophers confronting one pervasive contemporary concern: what role does--or should--religion play in our public lives? Reflecting on her recent work concerning state violence in Israel-Palestine, Judith Butler explores the potential of religious perspectives for renewing cultural and political criticism, while Jurgen Habermas, best known for his seminal conception of the public sphere, thinks through the ambiguous legacy of the concept of "the political" in contemporary theory. Charles Taylor argues for a radical redefinition of secularism, and Cornel West defends civil disobedience and emancipatory theology. Eduardo Mendieta and Jonathan VanAntwerpen detail the immense contribution of these philosophers to contemporary social and political theory, and an afterword by Craig Calhoun places these attempts to reconceive the significance of both religion and the secular in the context of contemporary national and international politics.

Europa upplever sin förmodligen allvarligaste kris sedan 1945. Den hotar såväl det europeiska integrationsprojektet som den europeiska och globala ekonomin, helt bortsett från den omfattande sociala ödeläggelse som krisen redan orsakat i länder i Europa. Vi upplever i dag en konflikt mellan nord och syd i Europa och på båda sidor om skiljelinjen finns ett missförhållande mellan det som tycks vara ekonomiskt nödvändigt och det som är politiskt görbart inom en demokratisk ordning. De rika ländernas valmanskår ser inte ut att vilja acceptera en långsiktig kollektivisering av skulderna eller andra storstilade former av gränsöverskridande omfördelning av bördorna. I söder vill befolkningarna inte gå med på vad en förbättrad bytesbalans och någorlunda uthärdliga budgetunderskott tycks kräva. Och både i nord och syd försöker populister slå politiskt mynt av krisen. Populisterna i norr avvisar skattefinansierade transfereringar och skuldavskrivningar, medan populisterna i syd häftigt värjer sig mot svångremsdiktat som går ut över löner, pensioner och offentliga tjänster. Finns det en väg ur denna europeiska fälla? I denna bok diskuterar ett antal framstående tyska intellektuella den europeiska krisen som uttryck för ett spänningsförhållande mellan kapitalism och demokrati. Hur kan finansmarknaderna bringas under demokratisk kontroll, finns det en väg tillbaka till en nationalstatlig demokratisk kapitalism eller är det en fördjupad politisk integration i Europa som är lösningen. Den frågan ställs på sin spets i debatten mellan det tyske sociologen Wolfgang Streeck, författare till den på Daidalos utgivna boken Köpt tid, och filosofen Jürgen Habermas. Andra bidragagivare är Claus Offe, Elmar Altvater, Hubert Zimmermann och Stephan Schulmeister. Till boken har Sverker Gustavsson, professor emiritus i statsvetenskap, skrivit ett förord som reder ut debattens positioner. "Den är upplysande, och oväntat underhållande. Alla är urförbannade. De flesta på Wolfgang Streeck som ihärdigt föreslår avveckling av euron för att rädda demokratin. Jag gapar när elefanterna tungt dammar på varandra." /Per Wirtén i Expressen "Runtom i Europa finns de som på allvar diskuterar problemen, och lyckligtvis har en del av det samtalet hittat in även i den svenska offentligheten tack vare boken 'Demokrati eller kapitalism?'" /Lisa Irenius i SvD

The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity: Twelve Lectures. Introduction by Thomas McCarthy, translated by Frederick Lawrence.

This is Habermas's long awaited work on law, democracy and the modern constitutional state in which he develops his own account of the nature of law and democracy.

The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere represents a rare opportunity to experience a diverse group of preeminent philosophers confronting one pervasive contemporary concern: what role does--or should--religion play in our public lives? Reflecting on her recent work concerning state violence in Israel-Palestine, Judith Butler explores the potential of religious perspectives for renewing cultural and political criticism, while Jurgen Habermas, best known for his seminal conception of the public sphere, thinks through the ambiguous legacy of the concept of "the political" in contemporary theory. Charles Taylor argues for a radical redefinition of secularism, and Cornel West defends civil disobedience and emancipatory theology. Eduardo Mendieta and Jonathan VanAntwerpen detail the immense contribution of these philosophers to contemporary social and political theory, and an afterword by Craig Calhoun places these attempts to reconceive the significance of both religion and the secular in the context of contemporary national and international politics.

The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere represents a rare opportunity to experience a diverse group of preeminent philosophers confronting one pervasive contemporary concern: what role does—or should—religion play in our public lives? Reflecting on her recent work concerning state violence in Israel-Palestine, Judith Butler explores the potential of religious perspectives for renewing cultural and political criticism, while Jürgen Habermas, best known for his seminal conception of the public sphere, thinks through the ambiguous legacy of the concept of "the political" in contemporary theory. Charles Taylor argues for a radical redefinition of secularism, and Cornel West defends civil disobedience and emancipatory theology. Eduardo Mendieta and Jonathan VanAntwerpen detail the immense contribution of these philosophers to contemporary social and political theory, and an afterword by Craig Calhoun places these attempts to reconceive the significance of both religion and the secular in the context of contemporary national and international politics.

"At the hands of a minor talent, profiles are often flat, two-dimensional outlines of a thinker’s intellectual physiognomy. At the hands of a master like Jürgen Habermas, they can become something far more substantial and profound. With astonishing economy, Habermas sketches his impressions of the giants of recent German thought, several of whom were his personal mentors. For those of his readers accustomed to the demandingly abstract level of his theoretical work, the results will prove a welcome surprise. Without sacrificing any of the rigor and brilliance of those longer studies, he displays a remarkable ability to combine depth with brevity. Philosophical-Political Profiles not only adds a new dimension to our understanding of the intellectual odyssey of Germany’s leading contemporary thinker but also provides a series of stunning insights into the thought of the generation that preceded him."Martin Jay, University of California, Berkley "With enormous sensitivity, judiciousness, and critical insight, Habermas engages in dialogue with many of the leading German-trained intellectuals of our time-including Heidegger, Jaspers, Löwith, Bloch, Adorno, Benjamin, Marcuse, Arendt, Gadamer, Scholem, and others. These essays range over the most central and vital issues of contemporary life. Whether dealing with Jewish mysticism or critiques of modernity, Habermas is always illuminating and incisive. These essays can serve as an excellent introduction to his thinking. They also help to situate his theoretical work by revealing his deepest concerns."Richard Bernstein, The New School for Social Research

Universities must transmit technically exploitable knowledge. That is, they must meet an industrial society's need for qualified new generations and at the same time be concerned with the expanded reproduction of education itself. In addition, universities must not only transmit technically exploitable knowledge, but also produce it. This includes both information flowing from research into the channels of industrial utilization, armament, and social welfare, and advisory knowledge that enters into strategies of administration, government, and other decision-making powers, such as private enterprises. Thus, through instruction and research the university is immediately connected with functions of the economic process.

This major work retraces the emergence and development of the Bourgeois public sphere - that is, a sphere which was distinct from the state and in which citizens could discuss issues of general interest. In analysing the historical transformations of this sphere, Habermas recovers a concept which is of crucial significance for current debates in social and political theory. Habermas focuses on the liberal notion of the bourgeois public sphere as it emerged in Europe in the early modern period. He examines both the writings of political theorists, including Marx, Mill and de Tocqueville, and the specific institutions and social forms in which the public sphere was realized.This brilliant and influential work has been widely recognized for many years as a classic of contemporary social and political thought, of interest to students and scholars throughout the social sciences and humanities.

Theory and Practice is one of Habermas's major works and is widely recognized as a classic in contemporary and social and political theory. Through a series of highly original historical studies, Habermas re-examines the relations between philosophy, science and politics. Beginning with the classical doctrine of politics as developed by Aristotle, he traces the changing constellation of theory and practice through the work of Machiavelli, More, Hobbes, Hegel and Marx. He argues that, with the development of the modern sciences, politics has become increasingly regarded as a technical discipline concerned with problems of prediction and control. Politics has thus lost its link with the practical cultivation of character, that is, with the praxis of enlightened citizens.Theory and Practices includes a major re-assessment of Marx's work and of the status of Marxism as a form of critique. In an important concluding chapter Habermas examines the role of reason and the prospects for critical theory in our modern scientific civilization.

In this enormously influential book, Jurgen Habermas examines the deep tensions and crisis tendencies which underlie the development of contemporary Western societies and develops a powerful analysis of the legitimation problems faced by modern states. Habermas argues that Western societies have succeeded to some extent in stabilizing the economic fluctuations associated with capitalism, but this has created a new range of crisis tendencies which are expressed in other spheres. States intervene in economic life and attempt to regulate markets, but they find themselves confronted by increasing and often conflicting demands. As individuals become increasingly disillusioned, the state is faced with the possibility of a mass withdrawal of loyalty or support - a 'legitimation crisis'.Widely recognized as a classic of contemporary social and political analysis, Legitimation Crisis sheds light on a range of issues which are central to current debates, from the decline of class conflict and the disillusionment with established political institutions to the crisis of the welfare state. It remains essential reading for students of sociology, politics and the social sciences generally.

Jürgen Habermas is well known for his scholarly writings on the theoretical foundations of the human sciences. The New Conservatism brings to light another side of Habermas's work, showing him to be an incisive commentator on a wide range of contemporary themes. The 1980s have been a crucial decade in the political life of Western democracies in general, and of the Federal Republic of Germany in particular. The transformations that accompanied a shift from 13 years of Social democratic rule in Germany to government by the conservative Christian Democrats are captured in this series of insightful, often passionate political and cultural commentaries. The central theme uniting the essays is the German problem of 'coming to terms within the past,' a problem that has important implications outside Germany as well.Of particular note are the essays on what has come to be known as the Historian's Debate: Habermas's attack on the revisionist German historians who have been trying to trivialize and "normalize" the history of the Nazi period, and his defence of the need for a realistic and discriminating approach to the Nazi period and its legacy. Habermas also takes up the recent debate concerning Martin Heidegger's involvement with Nazism and the rise of the neoconservative movement in Europe and America. In particular, the essay on The New Obscurity combines Habermas's analysis of the problems of the welfare state with his suggestions for avenues open to utopian impulses today.

In this important volume Habermas outlines the views which form the basis of his critical theory of modern societies. The volume comprises five interlocking essays, which together define the contours of his theory of communication and of his substantive account of social change. 'What is Universal Pragmatics?' is the best available statement of Habermas's programme for a theoryof communication based on the analysis of speech acts. In the following two essays Habermas draws on the work of Kohlberg and others to develop a distinctive account of moral consciousness and normative structures. 'Toward a Reconstruction of historical Materialsim' takes these issues further, offering a wide-ranging reconstruction of Marx's historical materialsim understood as a theory of social evolution. The final essay focuses on the question of legitimacy and on the legitimation problems faced by modern states. This book is essential reading for anyone concerned with the key questions of social and political theory today.

In this wide-ranging work, now available in paperback, Habermas presents his views on the nature of the social sciences and their distinctive methodology and concerns. He examines, among other things, the traditional division between the natural sciences and the social sciences; the characteristics of social action and the implications of theories of language for social enquiry; and the nature, tasks and limitations of hermeneutics. Habermas' analysis of these and other themes is, as always, rigorous, perceptive and constructive. This brilliant study succeeds in highlighting the distinctive characteristics of the social sciences and in outlining the nature of, and prospects for, critical theory today.

This major work retraces the emergence and development of the Bourgeois public sphere - that is, a sphere which was distinct from the state and in which citizens could discuss issues of general interest. In analysing the historical transformations of this sphere, Habermas recovers a concept which is of crucial significance for current debates in social and political theory. Habermas focuses on the liberal notion of the bourgeois public sphere as it emerged in Europe in the early modern period. He examines both the writings of political theorists, including Marx, Mill and de Tocqueville, and the specific institutions and social forms in which the public sphere was realized.This brilliant and influential work has been widely recognized for many years as a classic of contemporary social and political thought, of interest to students and scholars throughout the social sciences and humanities.

In this important book Habermas develops his views on a range of moral and ethical issues. Drawing on his theory of communicative action, Habermas elaborates an original conception of 'discourse ethics', seeking to reconstruct a moral point of view from which normative claims can be impartially judged. Habermas connects communicative ethics to the theory of social action via an examination of research in the social psychology of moral and interpersonal development. He aims to show that our basic moral intuitions spring from something deeper and more universal than contingent features of our tradition, namely from normative presuppositions of social interaction that belong to the repertoire of competent agents in any society.Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action confronts directly a variety of difficult and controversial problems which are at the centre of current debates in philosophy and social and political theory.

This is Habermas's long awaited work on law, democracy and the modern constitutional state in which he develops his own account of the nature of law and democracy.

Jürgen Habermas is well known for his scholarly writings on the theoretical foundations of the human sciences. The New Conservatism brings to light another side of Habermas's work, showing him to be an incisive commentator on a wide range of contemporary themes. The 1980s have been a crucial decade in the political life of Western democracies in general, and of the Federal Republic of Germany in particular. The transformations that accompanied a shift from 13 years of Social democratic rule in Germany to government by the conservative Christian Democrats are captured in this series of insightful, often passionate political and cultural commentaries. The central theme uniting the essays is the German problem of 'coming to terms within the past,' a problem that has important implications outside Germany as well.Of particular note are the essays on what has come to be known as the Historian's Debate: Habermas's attack on the revisionist German historians who have been trying to trivialize and "normalize" the history of the Nazi period, and his defence of the need for a realistic and discriminating approach to the Nazi period and its legacy. Habermas also takes up the recent debate concerning Martin Heidegger's involvement with Nazism and the rise of the neoconservative movement in Europe and America. In particular, the essay on The New Obscurity combines Habermas's analysis of the problems of the welfare state with his suggestions for avenues open to utopian impulses today.