Habermas, Jürgen

Habermas, Jürgen

Bibliography

See M. G. Specter, Habermas: An Intellectual Biography (2010); D. Rasmussen, Reading Habermas (1990); G. Finlayson, Habermas: A Very Short Introduction (2005); D. Ingram, Habermas: Introduction and Analysis (2010).

Habermas, Jürgen

1. ‘empirical-analytical ’ enquiry, concerned with establishing causal relations and grounded, above all, in an interest in controlling nature;
2. ‘hermeneutic enquiry, based on MEANINGFUL UNDERSTANDING and arising from the human need for mutual communication;
3. ‘critical’ and ‘emancipatory’ forms of knowledge, seen as transcending the limits of the other two.

The terms in which Habermas elucidates the character of the third form of knowledge, (c), involve the formulation of a ‘universal pragmatics’, i.e. an account of the normative presuppositions ideally underlying all forms of human communication (Habermas, 1970a & b). All genuine attempts at communication have implicit in them claims to validity (truth, appropriateness and sincerity) (see also COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE). True rationality can be seen to be achieved only when this emerges from conditions which correspond to an ideal speech situation, in which all parties have equal opportunities to engage in dialogue, without undue domination by one party without restriction and without ideological distortion. This model states the conditions for a critical and truly ‘emancipatory’ social science. Even if there are difficulties in realizing the model, it establishes a bench mark in terms of which the ideological distortions involved in existing forms of social science can be gauged.

In Legitimation Crisis (1975, original German edition 1973), Habermas turned his attention to an examination of tendencies to crisis in advanced capitalist societies. He portrays these societies as characterized by continued economic and class contradictions, and by a new politicization of administrative decisions as a result of increasing state intervention made necessary by economic contradictions, as well as by the new contradictions which these political interventions introduce. A tendency to ‘legitimation crisis’ is seen as occurring under these circumstances, especially in a situation in which previous bases of legitimacy (e.g. DEFERENCE) are not being renewed and where new social orientations (e.g. new welfare professionalism) are beginning to act as ‘foreign bodies’ within capitalism, producing a more critical political culture, potentially challenging to capitalism. Habermas acknowledges that tendencies to crisis in capitalist societies might be successfully managed, and that there are no guarantees that capitalism will be replaced. Nonetheless, he insists that the presence of economic and class contradictions and distorted rationality within capitalist societies are apparent once the procedures of critical theory are brought into play

An aspect of Habermas's thinking which has perhaps been subject to most criticism is his use of SYSTEMS THEORY and evolutionary models of social development. On the former, Habermas now distinguishes between ‘system integration’ and ‘social integration’, the one concerned with material reproduction, the other a matter of cultural integration and socialization. It is the latter for which a systems analysis remains most appropriate. With regard to Habermas's use of EVOLUTIONARY THEORY a distinction is sometimes drawn between theories which emphasize ADAPTATION and Darwinian selection and those based on the notion of an ‘unfolding’ development. According to Outhwaite (1994), Habermas's use is closer to the latter, but his theorizing is ‘reconstructive’ (of the underlying developmental logic of a sequence) rather than deterministic or predictive. Evolution is then the ‘ordered sequence of structural possibilities’; the models involved are of ‘societal learning’. Actual, real historical changes are CONTINGENT, involving economic and cultural strands that are not jointly determined. For all this, a ‘reconstructed historical materialism’ is still seen by Habermas as remaining the best model of development, even if there must now be far less emphasis on ‘labour’ in any narrow sense and much more emphasis on family structures, culture, law, processes of democratization, and on the ‘abstract principles’ underlying ‘new levels of societal learning’. The ‘bearers of evolution’ are societies and active subjects. Both system evolution and cognitive development are central.

Critics have sometimes regarded Habermas's overall theory as over-abstract, containing too little detailed history, and giving too little indication of a realizable, real-world political programme. However, if these are weaknesses, rather than an old style PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY, Habermas's theory remains, as Outhwaite states, one intended to be ‘tested in the discussive mode’. Demonstrating this, Habermas has shown a remarkable capacity to embrace the theories of others, making his the most comprehensive theoretical synthesis in contemporary sociology

Habermas's combination of critical exegesis of the work of others with an elaboration of his own systematic theory has been immensely influential. The volume and complexity of his writing means that it is impossible to indicate all its ramifications in a relatively brief compass. In addition to the works noted, other main works by Habermas (English translations) include: Theory and Practice (1974), Towards a Rational Society (1970), Communication and the Evolution of Society (1979), The Theory of Communicative Competence (2 vols., 1984 and 1988), The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (1989) and On the Logic of the Social Services (1990). Summary and evaluation of his work is provided by McCarthy (1978), R. Bernstein (1976), and W. Outhwaite (1994).

Habermas, Jürgen