During the 1960s the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas introduced the notion of a "bourgeois public sphere" in order to describe the symbolic arena of political life and conversation that originated ...with the cultural institutions of the early eighteenth-century; since then the "public sphere" itself has become perhaps one of the most debated concepts at the very heart of modernity. For Habermas, the tension between the administrative power of the state, with its understanding of sovereignty, and the emerging institutions of the bourgeoisie-coffee houses, periodicals, encyclopedias, literary culture, etc.-was seen as being mediated by the public sphere, making it a symbolic site of public reasoning. This volume examines whether the "public sphere" remains a central explanatory model in the social sciences, political theory, and the humanities.
Der Frankfurter Schule entwachsen entwickelte der einst staatsskeptische und fundamentalkritische Jürgen Habermas eine positive Theorie des demokratischen Rechtsstaates. Doch das gelang ihm nicht ...ohne Brüche. Christian Marxsen kommt den Widersprüchen seiner Rechtsphilosophie auf die Spur. Jürgen Habermas bietet in seinem rechtsphilosophischen Werk „Faktizität und Geltung“ einen neuen Begriff der Legitimität politischer Ordnungen. Deren Basis soll zuletzt in den Kommunikationsprozessen der Zivilgesellschaft zu finden sein. Christian Marxsen geht dem dieser Vorstellung vorausgesetzten normativen Konzept auf den Grund. Dazu verfolgt er die Entwicklung der Theorien Habermas’ von ihren kritisch-theoreti¬schen Anfängen bis hin zu den späten normativen Ausprägungen und zeigt dabei deren unaufgelöste Widersprüche auf. Die Leser erhalten dadurch zugleich eine hervorragende Einführung in die Habermas’sche Philosophie.
In Reason, Tradition, and the Good, Jeffery L. Nicholas addresses the failure of reason in modernity to bring about a just society, a society in which people can attain fulfillment. Developing the ...critical theory of the Frankfurt School, Nicholas argues that we rely too heavily on a conception of rationality that is divorced from tradition and, therefore, incapable of judging ends. Without the ability to judge ends, we cannot engage in debate about the good life or the proper goods that we as individuals and as a society should pursue. Nicholas claims that the project of enlightenment—defined as the promotion of autonomous reason—failed because it was based on a deformed notion of reason as mere rationality, and that a critical theory of society aimed at human emancipation must turn to substantive reason, a reason constituted by and constitutive of tradition. To find a reason capable of judging ends, Nicholas suggests, we must turn to Alasdair MacIntyre's Thomistic-Aristotelianism. Substantive reason comprises thinking and acting on the set of standards and beliefs within a particular tradition. It is the impossibility of enlightenment rationality to evaluate ends and the possibility of substantive reason to evaluate ends that makes the one unsuitable and the other suitable for a critical theory of society. Nicholas's compelling argument, written in accessible language, remains committed to the promise of reason to help individuals achieve a good and just society and a good life. This requires, however, a complete revolution in the way we approach social life.
In this exciting new work, Miriam Bankovsky shows how the pursuit of justice requires two orientations. The first is a practical commitment to the possibility of justice, which is the clear starting ...point for the broadly constructive theories of Rawls, Habermas and Honneth. Indeed, if justice were not possible, it would be difficult to see why it is worthwhile for human beings to live on this earth. However, a second orientation qualifies the first. It can be expressed as a deconstructive attentiveness to the impossibility of determining justice's content. This impossibility results from the tension between the appeal for individual consideration and the appeal for impartiality, demands that Derrida believes our historical concept of justice includes. Framed by these two orientations, this ambitious book explores the promise and shortcomings of the constructive theories. Attentive to concrete experiences of injustice that these thinkers tend to overlook, Bankovsky provocatively challenges Rawls' account of civil disobedience, Habermas' defence of rational consensus, and Honneth's ideal of mutual recognition, providing new insights into deconstruction's relevance for contemporary theories of justice.
Though many legal theorists are familiar with Jürgen Habermas's work addressing core legal concerns, they are not necessarily familiar with his earlier writings in philosophy and social theory. ...Because Habermas's later work on law invokes, without significant explanation, the whole battery of concepts developed in earlier phases of his career, even otherwise sympathetically inclined legal theorists face significant obstacles in evaluating his insights.
A similar difficulty faces those outside the legal academy who are familiar with Habermas's earlier work. While they readily comprehend Habermas's basic social-theoretical concepts, without special legal training they have difficulty reliably assessing his recent engagement with contemporary legal thought. This new work bridges the gap between legal experts and those without special legal training, critically assessing the attempt of an unquestionably preeminent philosopher and social theorist to engage the world of law.
The sociologist and philosopher Jürgen Habermas has had a wide-ranging and significant impact on understandings of social change and social conflict. However, there has been no concerted and focused ...attempt to introduce his ideas to the field of education broadly. This book rectifies this omission and delivers a definitive contribution to the understanding of Habermas's oeuvre as it applies to the field. The authors examine the contribution Habermas's theory has and can make to: pedagogy, learning and classroom interaction; the relation between education, civil society and the state; forms of democracy, reason and critical thinking; and performativity, audit cultures and accountability.
Additionally, the book answers a range of more specific questions, including: what are the implications for pedagogy of a shift from a philosophy of consciousness to a philosophy of language?; What contribution can Habermas's re-shaping of speech act theory and communicative rationality make to theories of classroom interaction?; and how can his theories of reason and colonization be used to explore questions of governance and accountability in education?
Section 1: Introduction
1. Communication, Deliberation, Reason: An Introduction to Habermas, Mark Murphy and Ted Fleming
Section 2: Key Issues and Debates in Habermas and Education
2. Educational Implications of the Idea of Deliberative Democracy, Tomas Englund
3. Communicative Utopia and Political Re-Education, Marianna Papasthephanou
4. The Concept of Lifeworld and Education in Post-Modernity: A Critical Appraisal of Habermas’ Theory of Communicative Action, Sigmund Ongstad
5. Habermas, Eurocentrism and Education: The Indigenous Knowledge Debate, Raymond A. Morrow
6. Forms of Rationality and Public Sector Reform: Habermas, Education and Social Policy, Mark Murphy
Section 3: Habermas Applied: Critical Theory And Educational Provision
7. Developing Competence in Collegial Spaces: Exploring Critical Theory and Community Education, John Bamber
8. Condemned to Learn: Habermas, University and the Learning Society, Ted Fleming
9. Learning Democratic Reason: The Adult Education Project of Jürgen Habermas, Stephen Brookfield
10. Citizenship, Discourse Ethics and an Emancipatory Model of Lifelong Learning, Clarence W. Joldersma and Ruth Deakin Crick
11. Practice and Theory of Narrative Inquiry in Education, Carola Conle
12. Educating Social Workers for Lifeworld and System, Barry Cooper
13. Jürgen Habermas, Critical Social Theory and Nursing Education: Implications for Caring in Nursing, Jane Sumner
Section 4: Conclusion
14. Taking Aim at the Heart of Education: Critical Theory and the Future of Learning, Ted Fleming and Mark Murphy
Mark Murphy is a Senior Lecturer in Education and Programme Leader for Education Studies in the Faculty of Education and Children's Services, University of Chester. Previously he worked as a Lecturer and Programme Director of a Teacher Training Programme at the University of Stirling. Prior to that, Dr. Murphy worked at University College Dublin and the National University of Ireland Maynooth. He has published widely, with numerous articles in journals such as the Journal of Education Policy , Journal of European Public Policy , European Journal of Education and the International Journal of Lifelong Education . His current research interests include educational sociology, critical theory, accountability in higher education, and public sector reform.
Ted Fleming is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Adult and Community Education at the National University of Ireland Maynooth, having previously been an Adult Education Organiser in County Louth Ireland. He is Director of the Centre for Research in Adult Learning and Education and coordinates the postgraduate research degrees in adult education at NUIM. His research interests include transformation theory, critical theory, mature students, access and higher education. Current research projects include an EU longitudinal study of dropout and retention issues for adult students in university, and a government sponsored study of the post-degree work experiences of mature students.
A proposal for an interdisciplinary, context-sensitive framework for assessing the strength of scientific arguments that melds Jürgen Habermas's discourse theory and sociological contextualism.
Complicating the standard interpretation of Habermas as a proceduralist, Mimesis and Reason uncovers the role that mimesis, or imitation, plays as a genuinely political force in communicative action. ...Through a penetrating examination of Habermas's use of themes and concepts from Plato, George Herbert Mead, and Walter Benjamin, Gregg Daniel Miller reconstructs Habermas's theory to reveal a new, postmetaphysical articulation of reason that lays the groundwork for new directions in political theory.
Beyond habermas Emden, Christian J; Midgley, David R
2012., 2012, 2012-12-19, 20130101
eBook
During the 1960s the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas introduced the notion of a "bourgeois public sphere" in order to describe the symbolic arena of political life and conversation that originated ...with the cultural institutions of the early eighteenth-century; since then the "public sphere" itself has become perhaps one of the most debated concepts at the very heart of modernity. For Habermas, the tension between the administrative power of the state, with its understanding of sovereignty, and the emerging institutions of the bourgeoisie—coffee houses, periodicals, encyclopedias, literary culture, etc.—was seen as being mediated by the public sphere, making it a symbolic site of public reasoning. This volume examines whether the "public sphere" remains a central explanatory model in the social sciences, political theory, and the humanities.
