Civil Disobedience and Modernity, 1978–1987 141
1973: “I wanted to make clear to myself the concept of modernity
implicit in those [neoconservative] interpretations and a departure
from the ideas that had supported the Bundesrepublik, modernity,
radical democracy and enlightenment.”^20 He reiterated the notion
that the project of modernity was threatened by neoconserva-
tives and elements of the alternative culture – although he did not
expressly name the Greens. Since about 1975, Habermas believed,
neoconservatives and “critics of growth” appear to have converged.
He described both as “syndromes”: “I fear that between these two
syndromes... the valuable substance of genuine Western traditions
and inspirations will get left aside.”^21 Beginning in the summer
of 1983, Habermas took part in monthly discussions with Green
Party member Joschka Fischer, but he was never a member of the
Greens.^22 In a lecture to the Spanish Parliament in 1984, he referred
to “dissidents of industrial society” who “fall behind the insights”
represented by the postwar welfare state compromise.^23 In a 1981
interview, Habermas was asked what “mountain” he would climb
next; he had just completed the two-volume Theory of Communicative
Action (TCA hereafter). His answer: “Hills, only small hills. I will
probably go to the University of Frankfurt. I plan a series of lectures
on theories of the modern. That will surely make me happy.”^24
When interviewed about the political context of his modernity
lectures in 2005, Habermas demurred, asserting that they responded
exclusively to the promptings of the philosophical context.^25 He pre-
sented the same argument in the published Preface: “The challenge
from the neostructuralist critique of reason defines the perspective
from which I seek to reconstruct here, step by step, the philosophi-
cal discourse of modernity.”^26 It was his attempt to meet the “chal-
lenge” represented by French poststructuralism, an effort he felt
was overdue, he confessed in an interview^27 ; it was a “mistake” not
(^20) Honneth et al., “Dialektik,” in DNU, 181.
(^21) Ibid., 183.
(^22) Wiggershaus, Jürgen Habermas, 121.
(^23) Habermas, “Krise der Wohlfahrtsstaat und die Erschöpfung utopischer
Energien,” in DNU, 155–6.
(^24) Honneth et al., “Dialektik,” in DNU, 208.
(^25) He describes it as a separate sphere of “academic work.” Author’s private
correspondence with Habermas, June 7, 2005.
(^26) Habermas, “Preface,” in PDM, xix.
(^27) Habermas, “Konservative Politik, Arbeit, Sozialismus und Utopie heute,”
an interview with Hans-Ulrich Reck (April 2, 1983), in DNU, 60–2.