Habermas and the Heritage of Critical Theory

Abstract

The overview of Habermas’s project presented in Chapter 1 marks out its general theoretical terrain and suggests the primary focus for my reading. In brief, I read Habermas as engaged in the continuation of the project of the Frankfurt School to develop a critical social theory capable of maintaining the ‘practical intentions’ of establishing a good and just society which he believes are central to Marx’s theory. The basic question, for Habermas, is whether a critical theory of society in the contemporary age that shares the practical intention of Marx’s theory is still at all possible. Habermas faces this question squarely, courageously, and across a wide range of theoretical and political issues. His attempt to provide an answer generates much of the interest in his project (both positive and negative) and makes its stakes extremely high.