Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas (born the June 18th 1929) is a philosophical and German sociologist . He obtains his doctorate in 1954 thanks to a thesis on Friedrich Schelling. He was professor of sociology and philosophy to the Université of Heidelberg of 1961 with 1964 and to the Université Johann Wolfgang Goethe of Frankfurt of 1964 with 1971. He directed 1971 to 1983 the Institut max Planck of Starnberg (Munich). He taught again with Francfort-sur-le-Main of 1983 with 1994, year of his retirement. He was prize winner of the Prix of Kyoto in 2004.
Career
Habermas is often compared to the École of Frankfurt, they are the students who at the end of the Années 1960 associated it with the “Sociologie criticizes”. He sees him even like a sociologist although having initially studied philosophy. In the preserving context , anticommunist and antimarxist of Germany of the time, he as says “Marxist sociologist” and tries to prove as it is possible to integrate the study of the Marxist theories in the academic course.
While not having broken yet with the Marxism, the sociologist and German philosopher was undoubtedly influenced more by max Weber than by Karl Marx. Just like Marx, it is interested in the tendency of the Capitalisme to be directed towards the crisis, but in a different context, that of the “advanced Capitalisme”.
It is also interested in the Communication in its relationship with the to be able and the Technique. It tried refonder the theory of the reason, by dividing it into two: communication reason, technical reason.
It is one of the thinkers of the ethical of the discussion ( Diskursethik ) with Karl-Otto Call, ethical which fits in the same vein as the Kantian ethical , while bringing there a certain replanning, decentring can one say, in connection with the categorical imperative. Habermas indeed develops the idea of a principle of discussion able to replace the Categorical imperative. At Kant, it is within the individual that is given the moral validity. In light, Kant thinks that it is possible to agree rationally on what is right and unjust, but that the evaluation of the standards is done in the interior for each one. Habermas considers that this " monologisme" must be exceeded by a comprehension " dialogique" morals, which is based on the assets of the formal Pragmatique and the theory of the " statements performatifs" (Austin). We determine if an action and code of conduct or a behavior is moral by a discussion which must resemble as much as possible with a situation of absolute freedom of speech and renouncement of the behaviors " stratégiques".
Lastly, Habermas is the theorist of the constitutional Patriotisme , patriotism disconnected from the State-Nation. At the time of the quarrel of the German historians, it develops the idea that the Germans should not feel attached to their country, culprit of atrocities during the Second world war, but at the democratic institutions which guarantee the respect of the citizens. Thereafter, in its reflection on the going beyond of the State-nation and European construction, it reactivates this idea. Its thesis: the appearance of increasingly important cultural minorities in the European countries implies that the citizenship is reconsidered. The Rule of law must be able to guarantee to the minorities the most complete respect of their identity, of their language and of their religion… and those, in return, must stick to the defense and the respect of these same institutions.
Important points in the theory of Habermas
Universality
“Instead of imposing on all the others a maxim of which I want that it is a universal law, I must subject my maxim to all the others in order to examine by the discussion his claim with the universality. Thus a slip takes place: the center of gravity does not lie any more in what each one wishes to put forward, without being contradicted, as being a universal law, but in what all can unanimously recognize like a universal standard”. (Jürgen HABERMAS, Morals and communication. Moral conscience and communication activity, Stag, Paris, 1996, p. 88.)
The principle of publicity
The principle of publicity, for Habermas, is the asserted requirement of a critical and public use of the reason.
The communication of mass
August 1st
Its international implication
Jürgen Habermas also counts among the founding members of the ethical, political and scientific Collegium international, association which wishes to bring answers intelligent and suitable until the people of the world vis-a-vis the new challenges of our time wait.
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