The Cambridge Companion to Habermas

This volume examines the historical and intellectual contexts out of which Habermas's work emerged.

Stephen K. White (Edited by)

9780521441209, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 April 1995

368 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm, 0.71 kg

"This is a wonderful collection." David A. Freeman, The European Studies Journal

Jurgen Habermas is unquestionably one of the foremost philosophers writing today. His notions of communicative action and rationality have exerted a profound influence within philosophy and the social sciences. This volume examines the historical and intellectual contexts out of which Habermas' work emerged, and offers an overview of his main ideas, including those in his most recent publication. Amongst the topics discussed are his relationship to the Frankfurt School of critical theory and Marx, his unique contributions to the philosophy of the social sciences, the concept of 'communicative ethics', and the critique of post-modernism. New readers and non-specialists will find this the most convenient, accessible guide to Habermas currently available. Advanced students will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of Habermas.

1. Introduction Stephen White
2. The heritage: Habermas and Adorno Romand Coles
What remains of Marx? Nancy Love
3. Communicative rationality: philosophical and social scientific implications
The idea of communicative rationality Georgia Warnke
Critical theory as a research programme John Dryzek
4. Normative democracy
Practical discourse and communicatve ethics J. Donald Moon
Rechtstheorie Kenneth Baynes
Universalism and the situated critic Max Pensky
5. Democracy
Democracy and self Mark Warren
Discourse and democractic practices Simone Chambers
6. The defense of modernity
Habermas' critique of Nietzsche and his progeny Tracy Strong
Modernity and postmodernity Axel Honneth.

Subject Areas: Political science & theory [JPA], Sociology & anthropology [JH], Western philosophy, from c 1900 - [HPCF]