Work Of Habermas Research Articles

Habermas and the mutations of the public sphere

In this article, I argue that concern with the public sphere and the necessary conditions for a genuine democracy can be seen as a central theme of Jurgen Habermas's work that deserves respect and critical scrutiny in the contemporary moment, when throughout the world liberal democracies are in crisis. My study intends to point to the continuing importance of Habermas' problematic of the public sphere and its relevance for debates over democratic politics and social and cultural life in the present age, in an era in which the Occupy Movements, Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, the Trump Resistance Movement, and Ukraine and Palestine Solidarity groups use social media to struggle against multiple forms of oppression. At stake is delineating a concept of the public sphere which facilitates maximum public participation and debate over the key issues of the contemporary era and which consequently promotes the cause of radical democracy and social transformation.

Habermas’ Concept of “Lebenswelt” and System and Its Implication for the Position of Religion in Public Life

The concept of “Lebenswelt” (the lifeworld) and the system are essential in Jürgen Habermas's thought. Habermas understands Lebenswelt as background knowledge that people take for granted naively. It becomes the horizon of their daily communication. He emphasizes the importance of coupling Lebenswelt and system. The uncoupling will make society get loss of meaning. Then we ask how he understands the position of religion in public life. How should we place religion as a part of Lebenswelt in making public law? To answer the question, we did the library research by exploring Habermas's works and his commentators. Then I conclude that Habermas offers accommodative participation to religion in public life through discourse. In the discourse, views inspired by religion can be put forward in the public sphere as far as they undergo a rationalization process. They should be openly discussed and tested instead of being taken for granted naively. Views inspired by religion will be accepted as long as they are rational. Discourse practice requires religious groups to be more mature and rational in formulating their ideas in the public sphere. Religious ideas are no longer positioned as closed and anti-criticism.

Using Habermas’ theory of communicative action to transform sociological analyses of evidence-based policy

ABSTRACT Many sociological analyses of evidence-based policy frame it as contributing to the rationalisation of social relations, and being constructed through and implicated in systems of knowledge/power. These analyses are based on social theory placing insufficient emphasis on the emancipatory potential of evidence, and the possibility of rational adjudication of truth claims. We argue sociological engagement with evidence-based policy could be transformed by being informed by the work of Habermas. Habermas’ work could enable a more nuanced view of EBP in terms of whether or not this leads to rationalisation in the form of de-politicisation or marginalisation of citizens’ voices. Habermas’ work on knowledge-constitutive interests could inform a reconstructed view of evidence, disabused of positivist assumptions and with increased emancipatory potential. Habermas’ notion of the ideal speech situation as a procedural basis for truth could function as a standard for exploring how EBP is affected by power asymmetries, as well as for adjudicating truth claims.

Domination, social norms, and the idea of an emancipatory interest

Domination, social norms, and the idea of an emancipatory interest

Inclusive Universalism as a Normative Principle of Education

AbstractIn recent years we have seen a newfound engagement with Jürgen Habermas's work in philosophy of education, focusing on his conception of argumentative dialogue, or discourse, as the origin of both truth‐related epistemic judgments and justifications of moral norms that claim rightness rather than truth. In this article, Krassimir Stojanov first reconstructs the way in which Habermas determines the relation between truth and rightness, and he then shows that moral rightness functions as a “truth‐analogue” since moral norms, like true facts, transcend the actual and local practices of their justification. In the case of moral rightness, this transcendence occurs as an infinite process of inclusion of the perspectives and interests of all potentially concerned persons — also (and foremost) the perspectives and interests of those who are strange to each other in their respective values, worldviews, and interests. With this account of “truth‐analogue” moral rightness, Habermas conceptualizes a kind of processual and “difference‐sensible” universalism, which is very different from the substantialist universalism of some traditional conceptions of education, or Bildung. In the final section, Stojanov shows why including children in their otherness as children in the discursive process of production of moral knowledge, and thus treating them with a kind of epistemic respect, is a constitutive condition for that process. The demand for the discursive inclusion of children follows from the discourse ethics approach, but it requires an enlargement and some corrections of that approach.

Jürgen Habermas’ Analysis of Legitimisation Crisis in the States of Late Capitalism as a Prelude to the Re-validation of Normative System of Law

Goal – an analysis of the essential elements – from the perspective of legitimisation of normative systems – of Jürgen Habermas’ philosophical thought and his views on the problems that modern capitalist societies face with relationship to the expiration of the pre-modern sources of legitimisation. Research methodology – analysis of literature, critical method of comparison of secondary views in the literature on Habermas’ original theses. Descriptive method. Score/results – views presented by the author of the Legitimation Crisis are based on the works of the representatives of The Frankfurt School. Critical Theory presented in their many works has its development and explication in the works of Habermas, with his innovative solutions to the unsolved problems of the fatalistic diagnosis of the early generation of the Frankfurt School. Habermas attributed a significant importance to the changes in the relationship of work, capital and intersubjective assignment of meaning in various society organisational forms, from traditional to late-capitalist one. His diagnosis of the legitimisation crisis in late-capitalism further points towards his roots in the Frankfurt School. His solution to this problem, related to the communicative actions and a possibility for a rational discourse ending in a consensus and the detailed elements of his analysis of the crisis of legitimisation, shall become a point of analysis in further papers. Originality/value – Jürgen Habermas works maintain their importance in the XXI century, especially in the face of further turbulences that await the democratic systems in the European civilization sphere. This work compiles some of the basic elements of the origin of Habermas’ thought, including the references to the Polish works on Habermas that have not been translated into English; and it is a development of the master’s thesis on Habermas’ concept of legitimisation. The paper’s thesis can be further developed as a related analysis in the future papers.

Psychoanalyzing democracies: Antagonisms, paranoia, and the productivity of depression

Psychoanalyzing democracies: Antagonisms, paranoia, and the productivity of depression

Falling through the cracks: the invisible hospital cleaning workforce

PurposeThis paper explores the role of hospital cleaners and their contribution to healthcare safety. Few studies have examined the activities and input of hospital cleaners, rendering them largely invisible in healthcare research. Yet, as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has demonstrated, this sizeable workforce carries out tasks critical to healthcare facilities and wider health system functioning.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the work of Habermas, the authors examine the literature surrounding cleaners and quality and safety in healthcare. The authors theorise cleaners' work as both instrumental and communicative and examine the perceptions of healthcare professionals and managers, as well as cleaners themselves, of healthcare professionals and managers' role and contribution to quality and safety.FindingsCleaners are generally perceived by the literature as performing repetitive – albeit important – tasks in isolation from patients. Cleaners are not considered part of the “healthcare team” and are excluded from decision-making and interprofessional communication. Yet, cleaners can contribute to patient care; ubiquity and proximity of cleaners to patients offer insights and untapped potential for involvement in hospital safety.Originality/valueThis paper brings an overdue focus to this labour force by examining the nature and potential of their work. This paper offers a new application of Habermas' work to this domain, rendering visible how the framing of cleaners' role works to exclude this important workforce from participation in the patient safety agenda.

Science Denial in the Public Sphere

The phenomenon of science denial is increasingly being understood as a serious threat to human health and even the long-term sustainability of civilization itself. This paper defines science denial, identifies some of its sources and manifestations, and articulates a response to the growing phenomenon in terms of the discourse-ethics articulated in the work of Habermas and Rawls. Mirroring the recognition by both thinkers of the validity of religious expression, the paper defends both the condemnation of science denial and the possibilities of limited science restrictions, outside of contexts of public health.

How can we trust a political leader? Ethics, institutions, and relational theory

That citizens can trust leaders in politics and the public sphere to be sincere and truthful helps to make democracy work. However, the idea of authentic communication raises both sociological and ethical questions. Scholars focusing on institutional conditions emphasize that audiences only have reasons to trust speakers that appear to have incentives to be truthful, unless they know them personally. However, theorists of ethics argue that authentic communication requires genuine commitment, which is conceptually at odds with self-interested reasoning. This article finds that both incentives and genuine commitment are necessary conditions for trustworthiness in speech, but neither is sufficient on its own. The problem is thus how to combine them. Examining the work of Habermas and Bourdieu, this article develops a relational perspective on authentic communication. It suggests that latent institutions can induce trust by making trustworthiness preferable, and still allow speakers to earn citizens’ trust through genuine ethical commitment.

La Teoría Crítica y el pensamiento decolonial: hacia un proyecto emancipatorio post-occidental

El presente artículo pretende analizar las diferencias y las convergencias entre la Teoría Crítica, especialmente la obra de Habermas, autor perteneciente a la segunda generación, y el pensamiento decolonial, en tanto paradigmas que tratan de construir un proyecto político emancipatorio, a partir de sus supuestos ontológicos, epistemológicos y metodológicos, así como la naturaleza de las propuestas políticas que ambas corrientes de pensamiento han sostenido y sostienen. A partir de esta revisión, se señalan las convergencias entre la generación más reciente de la Teoría Crítica y el giro decolonial y la posibilidad de construir un diálogo en condiciones simétricas, reconociendo la importancia de valorar los saberes otros del giro decolonial, pero también de la conservación de los pilares institucionales que sostienen la existencia de una ciencia social crítica.

Habermas’s European Constitution: Catalyst, Reconstruction, Refounding

Jurgen Habermas has long been one of the EU's most prominent and influential critical friends, engaged as much at the level of legal and political praxis as social theory. In particular, he has a close and complex longstanding interest in the idea of an EU constitution. On the occasion of his 90th birthday, I want to discuss three treatments of the EU constitution located in Habermas's work: constitution as political catalyst, as intellectual reconstruction, and as institutional refounding. We find the different treatments, and the priorities that underscore them, emphasised at different times — partly reflecting changing political circumstances. We also observe some tension between the different approaches. Yet, as someone broadly sympathetic to his overall project, I argue that the best understanding of the Habermasian position, and certainly the most attractive version of that position in today's political climate, involves reconciling all three treatments within a single package.

Habermas's European constitution: Catalyst, reconstruction, refounding

AbstractJürgen Habermas has long been one of the EU's most prominent and influential critical friends, engaged as much at the level of legal and political praxis as social theory. In particular, he has a close and complex longstanding interest in the idea of an EU constitution. On the occasion of his 90th birthday, I want to discuss three treatments of the EU constitution located in Habermas's work: constitution as catalyst, as reconstruction, and as refounding. We find the different treatments, and the priorities that underscore them, emphasised at different times—partly reflecting changing political circumstances. We also observe some tension between the different approaches. Yet, as someone broadly sympathetic to his overall project, I argue that the best understanding of the Habermasian position, and certainly the most attractive version of that position in today's political climate, involves reconciling all three treatments within a single package.

Introduction

Introduction

Mandating dialogue? International perspectives on differences between theory and practice

This paper replicates an Australian study (Lane, 2018) into how public relations practitioners understand dialogue in practice. The original study found practitioners believed they were carrying out dialogue legally required by government, but what they were doing was no more than two-way communication. It also found practitioners’ operating environments meant they could never actually undertake dialogue, even if mandated to do so. These empirically-based insights revealed the existence of gaps between theory and practice in dialogue in public relations. The study was repeated in Austria to determine if these findings were consistent internationally, and to consider what this might mean for the place of dialogue in public relations. Examples of so-called mandated ‘dialogue’ provided by Austrian public relations practitioners in semi-structured interviews were analyzed using Kent and Taylor’s (2002) five principles of dialogue. This analysis showed that despite the Austrian practitioners’ familiarity with the work of Habermas on dialogue, the mandated communication they carried out was not dialogue. The Austrian experience also showed that the nature of the underlying context of mandated communication—the need to achieve agreement between parties in varying levels of conflict; and conducting communication within boundaries of time and non-negotiable pre-existing decisions—meant dialogue could never occur. Comparing the two studies demonstrated high levels of similarity between the countries’ results, which we hope can provide the starting point for the development of a longitudinal and international perspective. This paper concludes that the place of dialogue in the theory and practice of public relations is dependent on the education of practitioners in its implementation; and a re-thinking of the role of the aspirational in situations where it can never be attained.

Realism, values and critique

ABSTRACTThis is a lightly edited transcript of a plenary talk given at the Beyond Positivism conference, Montreal, August 8–10 2017. The talk followed others by Christopher Winship and Frédéric Vandenberghe, which are mentioned in the text. The paper argues that critical social science needs an ontology of values, and that a coherent ontology must recognize that values are created by human beings in social settings, rather than being objectively true. Recognizing this, however, need not expose us to the moral nihilism of extreme relativism. Drawing on the work of Habermas and the capabilities approach, I argue that we can reason about what sorts of basic values we should be committed to, without invoking the concept of objective values. This provides us with material that we can build on to construct more complex constructive critical arguments.

Re-thinking populism within the borders of democracy

Although populism has many references and various definitions as an elusive and ambiguous concept, this article approaches it as a political project which has a potential to undermine democracy in some ways. This approach enables a broader comprehension of populism rather than confining it to some ideological tenets or a few undisputed populist movements. In the study, it is attempted to reveal the logic of this political project through a tripartite analysis which consists of the sense of democracy inherent in populism, its way of thinking and reasoning, and the political circumstances which enables and strengthens populism. It is argued that the analysis performed here can offer an outline of the ground on which the struggle against the features of populism, that threatens democracy, can be carried out. Finally, in the light of the aforementioned analysis and some ideas which are borrowed from the works of Habermas and Mouffe to a large extent and discussed in an interconnected manner, it is aimed to re-read democracy as an answer to problems arising out of populism.

Aprofundamento das esferas públicas para a gestão social: caminhos para uma reconstrução empírico-descritiva e normativa

Resumo Neste artigo, buscamos reconstruir as esferas públicas como uma categoria empírico-descritiva e normativa das pesquisas em gestão social. Nesse processo, revelamos que o conceito de esfera pública passou por críticas e reformulações nas obras de Habermas (1962; 1981; 1992) e que as concepções mais atuais abrangem uma pluralidade de públicos, interesses e opiniões, bem como dimensões conflitivas e potenciais opressivos. No que tange à escolha metodológica, este artigo é um ensaio teórico. Para a construção deste ensaio, foi realizada uma ampla pesquisa bibliográfica focada principalmente na literatura sobre “gestão social” e “esfera pública”. Identificamos várias lacunas e limitações nos entendimentos sobre esfera pública pelos estudos do campo da gestão social e, considerando as limitações como processos de aprendizagem, buscamos avançar a partir de novos elementos. Argumentamos que, se considerarmos as esferas públicas como locus de pesquisas da gestão social (normativo e empírico-descritivo), é importante destacar que: (1) as esferas públicas são locus de consensos e conflitos; (2) podem tanto se constituírem concretamente de elementos democráticos e emancipatórios quanto opressivos; (3) são formadas por uma diversidade de públicos (e contrapúblicos) com diferentes “capacidades” de acesso e argumentação; (4) no Brasil, houve a formação de esferas públicas subalternas; (5) as características das formações de esferas públicas não podem ser importadas e (6) a efetividade das esferas públicas é influenciada por estruturas sistêmicas. Finalmente, mostramos que a reconstrução defende o potencial descritivo, normativo e crítico das esferas públicas, especialmente, se a pluralizamos e exploramos seu desenvolvimento a partir de Habermas, seus comentadores e críticos.

Drug policy constellations: A Habermasian approach for understanding English drug policy

BackgroundIt is increasingly accepted that a view of policy as a rational process of fitting evidence-based means to rationally justified ends is inadequate for understanding the actual processes of drug policy making. We aim to provide a better description and explanation of recent English drug policy decisions. MethodWe develop the policy constellation concept from the work of Habermas, in dialogue with data from two contemporary debates in English policy; on decriminalisation of drug possession and on recovery in drug treatment. We collect data on these debates through long-term participant observation, stakeholder interviews (n = 15) and documentary analysis. ResultsWe show the importance of social asymmetries in power in enabling structurally advantaged groups to achieve the institutionalisation of their moral preferences as well as the reproduction of their social and economic power through the deployment of policies that reflect their material interests and normative beliefs. The most influential actors in English drug policy come together in a ‘medico-penal constellation’, in which the aims and practices of public health and social control overlap. Formal decriminalisation of possession has not occurred, despite the efforts of members of a challenging constellation which supports it. Recovery was put forward as the aim of drug treatment by members of a more powerfully connected constellation. It has been absorbed into the practice of ‘recovery-oriented’ drug treatment in a way that maintains the power of public health professionals to determine the form of treatment. ConclusionActors who share interests and norms come together in policy constellations. Strategic action within and between constellations creates policies that may not take the form that was intended by any individual actor. These policies do not result from purely rational deliberation, but are produced through ‘systematically distorted communication’. They enable the most structurally favoured actors to institutionalise their own normative preferences and structural positions.

Habermas and Religious Communication: The Insufficiency of the Translation Proviso

Much has been debated and written about the translation proviso, its implications, and its rationality. At its core, it is about communication and a transition in religious communication that means it can become secularly engaged. This paper argues that the theory of the translation proviso is insufficient to accommodate religious communication and, in order to support the arguments made, considers associated aspects of the work of Habermas, such as solidarity, tolerance and universalism, as well, of course, as communication. Considerations in this wider context lead to a growing awareness that the translation proviso and its prescriptive tendencies may be seen as being an ominous contradiction of much of the other work of Habermas and that, far from being postmetaphysical and postmodern, it may have elements of being a ‘big idea’.