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SOCIETY IS
DEPENDENT UPON
A CRITICISM OF ITS
OWN TRADITIONS
JURGEN HABERMAS (1929– )
IN CONTEXT
BRANCH
Political philosophyAPPROACH
Social theoryBEFORE
1789 The French Revolution
begins, marking the end of
a “representational” power
structure in France.1791 Jeremy Bentham
writes Of Publicity, an early
exploration of the idea of
the “public.”1842 Karl Marx writes his
essay On Freedom of the Press.AFTER
1986 Edward Said criticizes
Habermas and the Frankfurt
School for their Eurocentric
views and their silence on
racist theory and imperialism.1999 Canadian author Naomi
Klein’s No Logo explores the
fate of the public sphere in an
era dominated by advertising
and the mass media.Coffee houses became a focus of
social and political life in the major cities
of 18th-century Europe. Noted as places
where “the dissaffected met”, attempts
were frequently made to close them.Reason, for him, is not about
discovering abstract truths, but
about the need we have to justify
ourselves to others.Creating a public sphere
In the 1960s and 1970s, Habermas
concluded that there was a link
between communicative reason
and what he calls the “public
sphere.” Up until the 18th century,
he states, European culture was
largely “representational”, meaning
that the ruling classes sought to
“represent” themselves to their
subjects with displays of power
that required no justification, such
as impressive pageants or grand
architectural projects. But in the
18th century, a variety of public
spaces emerged that were outside
state control, including literary
salons and coffee houses. These
were places where individuals could
gather to engage in conversation or
reasoned debate. This growth of
the public sphere led to increased
opportunities to question the
authority of representational state
culture. The public sphere became
a “third space”, a buffer between
the private space of our immediate
friends and family, and the space
occupied by state control.A
ccording to the German
philosopher Jürgen
Habermas, modern society
depends not only on technological
advances, but also upon our ability
to criticize and reason collectively
about our own traditions. Reason,
says Habermas, lies at the heart
of our everyday communications.
Somebody says or does something,
and we say, “Why did you do that?”
or “Why did you say that?” We
continually ask for justifications,
which is why Habermas talks
about “communicative” reason.