Jürgen Habermas is one of the most important German philosophers and social theorists of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. His work has been compared in scope with Max Weber’s, and in philosophical breadth to that of Kant and Hegel.
In this much-needed introduction Kenneth Baynes engages with the full range of Habermas’s philosophical work, addressing his early arguments concerning the emergence of the public sphere and his initial attempt to reconstruct a critical theory of society in Knowledge and Human Interests. He then examines one of Habermas’s most influential works, The Theory of Communicative Action, including his controversial account of the rational interpretation of social action. Also covered is Habermas’s work on discourse ethics, political and legal theory, including his views on the relation between democracy and constitutionalism, and his arguments concerning human rights and cosmopolitanism. The final chapter assesses Habermas’s role as a polemical and prominent public intellectual and his criticism of postmodernism in The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity, in addition to his more recent writings on the relationship between religion and democracy.
Habermas is an invaluable guide to this key figure in contemporary philosophy, and suitable for anyone coming to his work for the first time.
1. Life and Works 2. Habermas’s Initial Attempts at a Critical Theory of Society 3. The Theory of Communicative Action: Habermas’s Model of a Critical Social Science 4. Habermas’s "Kantian Pragmatism" 5. Locating Discourse Morality 6. Democracy and the Rechtsstaat: Habermas’s Between Facts and Norms 7. Deliberative Democracy, Public Reason, and Democracy Beyond the Nation-State 8. A "sobered" philosophy: Postmodernism, Postmetaphysical Thinking, and Postsecularism 9. Conclusion. Index
Biography
Kenneth Baynes is Professor of Philosophy at Syracuse University, USA. He works primarily in social and political philosophy, with a special focus in critical theory and modern and contemporary German philosophy. He is a co-editor of After Philosophy: End or Transformation? and Discourse and Democracy, and the author of The Normative Grounds of Social Criticism: Kant, Rawls and Habermas.
"An exceptionally valuable introduction and guide to the career of Jürgen Habermas. Baynes links Habermas’s work to debates in recent American analytic philosophy, as well as to that of prominent European thinkers, whose significance Baynes clearly explains. This book will inform professional philosophical discussion, and also serve as an accessible and always reliable guide for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses." - Hugh Baxter, Boston University, USA
"Baynes' book is at once an up-to-date synthesis centered on the leitmotif of Kantian pragmatism, a summary of Habermas’s debates with major interlocutors in Continental and Analytic philosophy, a probing critique of his social and political theory, and a lucid, concise, and accessible introduction suitable for teaching. It is the most successful overview of Europe’s most prominent philosopher and social thinker now available." - Matthew Specter, Central Connecticut State University, USA
"Baynes really knows his Habermas and he writes clearly and fluidly. Accessible and sophisticated at the same time, scholar and undergraduate alike will find this book a worthwhile read." - Simone Chambers, University of Toronto, Canada
