Lecture by Seyla Benhabib at the University of Vienna, October 5, 2023:
Kantian Cosmopolitanism and its Critics [Video]
* Welcome & introduction
* Lecture 09:20 - 1:02:00
* Discussion: 1:02:00 - 1:44:00 (moderator: George Karamanolis)
Lecture by Seyla Benhabib at the University of Vienna, October 5, 2023:
Kantian Cosmopolitanism and its Critics [Video]
* Welcome & introduction
* Lecture 09:20 - 1:02:00
* Discussion: 1:02:00 - 1:44:00 (moderator: George Karamanolis)
A new interview with Jürgen Habermas on Ukraine, Europe and the new geopolitical constellation:
"Europe's Mistake" (Granta, no. 165, 2023). [Open access]
The interview was conducted by Thomas Meaney on 23 July 2023.
Nicole Deitelhoff, Rainer Forst, Klaus Günther & Jürgen Habermas on the Hamas massacre, Israel’s response and anti-Semitic sentiments:
"Principles of solidarity. A statement" (13-11-2023)
"The current situation created by Hamas‘ extreme atrocity and Israel’s response to it has led to a cascade of moral and political statements and protests. We believe that amidst all the conflicting views being expressed, there are some principles that should not be disputed. They are the basis of a rightly understood solidarity with Israel and Jews in Germany.
The Hamas massacre with the declared intention of eliminating Jewish life in general has prompted Israel to strike back. How this retaliation, which is justified in principle, is carried out is the subject of controversial debate; principles of proportionality, the prevention of civilian casualties and the waging of a war with the prospect of future peace must be the guiding principles. Despite all the concern for the fate of the Palestinian population, however, the standards of judgement slip completely when genocidal intentions are attributed to Israel’s actions.
In particular, Israel’s actions in no way justify anti-Semitic reactions, especially not in Germany. It is intolerable that Jews in Germany are once again exposed to threats to life and limb and have to fear physical violence on the streets. The democratic ethos of the Federal Republic of Germany, which is orientated towards the obligation to respect human dignity, is linked to a political culture for which Jewish life and Israel’s right to exist are central elements worthy of special protection in light of the mass crimes of the Nazi era. The commitment to this is fundamental to our political life. The elementary rights to freedom and physical integrity as well as to protection from racist defamation are indivisible and apply equally to all. All those in our country who have cultivated anti-Semitic sentiments and convictions behind all kinds of pretexts and now see a welcome opportunity to express them uninhibitedly must also abide by this."
Update:
See also Nicole Deitelhoff's comments on X/Twitter.
+ podcast from “Parallax Views” with A. Dirk Moses (City University of New York) on the Gaza War – with his comments on the statement by Nicole Deiteldorf et al. (32:35 - 38:36)
+ Adam Tooze, Samuel Moyn, Amia Srinivasan, Nancy Fraser et al. - "The principle of human dignity must apply to all people" (The Guardian, online 22-11-2023). Among the signatories are also Dirk Moses, Peter Verovšek, Robin Celikates, Frederick Neuhouser, Jay Bernstein, and Katrin Flikschuh.
Responses & reports in the press:
* Süddeutsche Zeitung (Jens-Christian Rabe), 15-11-2023
* Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Christian Geyer), online 15-11-2023
* Frankfurter Rundschau (Michael Hesse), online 15-11-2023
* Die Zeit, online 14-11-2023.
* Der Spiegel, online 14-11-2023.
* Berliner Zeitung (Timo Feldhaus), online 14-11-2023
* Die Welt, online 14-11-2023.
* Tagesspiegel (Gerrit Bartels), 14-11-2023.
* La Repubblica (Tonia Mastrobuoni), 15-11-2023.
* Il Manifesto (Roberto De Monticelli), online 19-11-2023,
* The Guardian (Philip Oltermann), online 22-11-2023,
* Spiegel Online (Tobias Rapp), online 23-11-2023.
* Tagesspiegel (Gerrit Bartels), 24-11-2023.
* Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Miguel de la Riva), 25-11-2023.
* Frankfurter Rundschau (Michael Hesse), 25-11-2023.
* Berliner Zeitung (Paolo Becchi), online 26-11-2023
* Die Welt (Andreas Rosenfelder), 27-11-2023.
* Nordwest-Zeitung (Stefan Müller-Doohm), 27-11-2023
* Der Standard (Ronald Pohl), 28-11-2023.
ed. by Isabelle Aubert & Marcos Nobre
(Springer Verlag, 2023)
282 pages
Description
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt am Main, in 1923, this book aims at shedding light on the archives of some of the key thinkers of Critical Theory of Society, also well known as “Frankfurt School”. To pay homage to this current of thought, this contributed volume aims to make the archives speak for themselves, to show the public the quantity of unpublished material still existing by the authors of the Critical Theory which are now in funds in different parts of the world (in Germany, in Italy, or in the United States), and to show that Critical Theory remains alive 100 years after its inception.
The volume starts by presenting the archives of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the thinkers who inspired Critical Theory, and the archives of the Institute for Social Research itself. Then it dedicates separate sections to the archives of Walter Benjamin, Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno, Friedrich Pollock, Herbert Marcuse, Leo Löwenthal and Jürgen Habermas. The book is composed of chapters written by researchers and editors who worked in the different fonds, as well as chapters written by or interviews with researchers who were or are in charge of some of the archives, or who are especially familiar with the material.
Contents [preview]
Introduction: Researching the Archives of Critical Theory [preview] - Isabelle Aubert & Marcos Nobre
Publishing Marx-Engels-Nachlass: Archive, Editions, and Theoretical Implications [preview] - Olavo Ximenes
Into the Walter Benjamin Archive: An Interview with Ursula Marx - Fernando Bee
Benjamin Anarchivist - Antonin Wiser
The Attitude of the German People: The Institute of Social Research Archive as Contemporary History - Dirk Braunstein & Maischa Gelhard
The Role of Empirical Research in Theodor W. Adorno’s Thought: A Personal Experience at the Archive of the Institute for Social Research - Adriano Januário
Working on Cultural Memory: The Literary Estate of Max Horkheimer in the Frankfurt University Library - Gunzelin Schmid Noerr
The Material Part of Theory: The IfS Exile in Geneva and the Correspondence between Max Horkheimer & Juliette Favez - Olivier Voirol
Not Just Director, Methodologist, or Partner: A Brief History of the Reception of Horkheimer’s Work - Paulo Yamawake
Adorno and the Archiving of the Ephemeral: Remarks on His Literary Estate - Michael Schwarz
Adorno and the Post-war Artistic Debates: A Perspective Through the Archives - Raquel Patriota & Ricardo Lira da Silva
T.W. Adorno, H. Becker, and the Challenges of Education in an “Administered World” (1955–1969): Unpublished Radio Conversations from the Theodor W. Adorno Archive - Aurélia Peyrical
Symbiosis and Dispersion: The Friedrich Pollock Papers - Philipp Lenhard
Leo Löwenthal and Herbert Marcuse: Analysis of the Enemy and Volumes from the Marcuse Archive - Peter-Erwin Jansen & Inka Engel
Archive Beyond Files: A Brief Note on a Personal Experience in the Marcuse Archive - Inara Luisa Marin
Critical Theory and Primary Source Research: Subjective Reflections on Working in the Herbert Marcuse and Max Horkheimer Archives - John Abromeit
The Habermas Papers: An Interview with Roman Yos [preview] - Pedro Zan & Rafael Palazi
Two Letters Between Jürgen Habermas and Karl-Otto Apel, Dated 1965: Comments on the Exchange - Roman Yos
Letter from Jürgen Habermas to Herbert Marcuse, July 10, 1978: Translation of the Letter and Comment - Isabelle Aubert
Appendix: Practical Information on the Archives [pdf]
by Jürgen Habermas
(Polity, 2023)
128 pages
Contents:
1. Reflections and Conjectures on a New Structural Transformation of the Political Public Sphere
Also published in Theory, Culture & Society, vol. 39, no. 4 (2022), pp. 145-171. [Open access]
2. Deliberative Democracy. An Interview
Originally published as “Interview with Jürgen Habermas” in André Bächtiger, John S. Dryzek, Jane Mansbridge & Mark E. Warren (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2018) pp. 871-882.
3. What is Meant by ‘Deliberative Democracy’? Objections and Misunderstandings
Section 2 and 3 reuses text from Habermas’s "Foreword", in Emilie Prattico (ed.), Habermas and the Crisis of Democracy. Interviews with Leading Thinkers (London: Routledge, 2022), pp. xiii-xix. [Preview here]
From the international conference "Futuring Critical Theory" in Frankfurt am Main, September 13-15, 2023:
"100 Years of Critical Theory – 100 Years of Solitude?" (Video, 1:30:00)
Martin Jay in conversation with Rahel Jaeggi
Chair: Martin Saar
More videos from the conference here.
Harvard Colloquium for Intellectual History:
"Flaschenpost: Critical Theory at 100 – The European and American Reception, 1923-2023"
October 6-7, 2023, at Harvard University.
Day 1: October 6
* Introduction – Peter E. Gordon & Maxim Pensky
* At Time of Contestation – Axel Honneth
* Adorno's Ways of Criticism – James Gordon Finlayson
* The Standpoint of Emancipation – Rahel Jaeggi
* Disastrous Times: Reactualizing Horkheimer's Vision of Critical Theory – Maeve Cooke
* The Living I and the Good Animal: Adorno and Hegel – Karen Ng
* The Greening of Critical Theory – Espen Hammer
* Normality proper to this time is sickness – Fabian Freyenhagen
* Patriarchal Capitalism: Critical Theory from Adorno to Ecofeminism – Jay Bernstein
* History, Ontology, Nature – Martin Saar
Day 2: October 7
* The History of the Frankfurt School in Expanded Fields – Martin Jay
* We’re not Special. Congratulations! – Christopher Zurn
* The Return of Ideology Critique – Cristina Lafont
* The Rational Critique of Social Unreason: On Critical Theory in the Frankfurt Tradition – Rainer Forst
* Radical Tradition: A Contradiction in Terms? – Susan Buck-Morss
* Critical Theory and Intersectionality: Rethinking the Critique of Power with Black Feminism – Amy Allen
* Critical Theory and Anti: Racist Struggles: A Missed Encounter – Robin Celikates
* Critical Theory and/or/as Marxism? – Nancy Fraser
* Concluding Roundtable Discussion
Volume 1: The Project of a Genealogy of Postmetaphysical Thinking
by Jürgen Habermas
(Polity, 2023)
448 pages
This is the first of the three volumes of Jürgen Habermas' book on the history of philosophy - "Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie" (Suhrkamp, 2019). Translated by Ciaran Cronin.
Preface [preview]
Part I. On the Question of a Genealogy of Postmetaphysical Thinking
1. Crisis Scenarios and Narratives of Decline in Major Twentieth-Century Philosophical Theories
2. Religion as a "Contemporary" Formation of Objective Mind?
3. The Occidental Path of Development and the Claim to Universality of Postmetaphysical Thinking
4. Basic Assumptions of the Theory of Society and Programmatic Outlook
Part II. The Sacred Roots of the Axial Age Traditions
1. Cognitive Breakthrough and Preservation of the Sacred Core
2. Myth and Ritual Practices
3. The Meaning of the Sacred
4. The Path to the Axial Age Transformation of Religious Consciousness
Part III. A Provisional Comparison of the Axial Age World Views
1. The Moralization of the Sacred and the Break with Mythical Thought
2. The Repudiation of "Paganism" by Jewish Monotheism
3. The Buddha’s Teaching and Practice
4. Confucianism and Taoism
5. From the Greek "Natural Philosophers" to Socrates
6. Plato’s Theory of Ideas – in Comparison
First Intermediate Reflection: The Conceptual Trajectories of the Axial Age
See my bibliography on Jürgen Habermas' book (Reviews, articles, book chapters and books in German, English, French, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish).
The table of contents of volume 2 og 3 here.
Ed. by Peter Niesen
[Leviathan Sonderband 40]
(Nomos, August 2023)
338 pages
Description
Western democracies are increasingly being challenged by authoritarian populism. The assumption that democratic learning experiences are irreversible has become questionable. Can we identify a stable trend towards "democratic regression" (Schäfer/Zürn)? What are the criteria on which such a diagnosis can be based, and what are the possible causes of such developments? What does the concept of regression add to the ubiquitous talk of the decline of democracy?
This special issue provides the first comprehensive discussion of the empirical diagnoses, analytical determinations and normative uses of the phenomenon and concept of democratic regression
Contents
* Einleitung
1. Zur Diagnose demokratischer Regression. Annahmen, Merkmale, Herausforderungen [adjusted excerpt] - Peter Niesen
* Symptome und Merkmale demokratischer Regression
2. Republikanismus, Repräsentation und Regression - Armin Schäfer
3. Die regulative Idee der Wahrheit und demokratische Regression - Michael Zürn
4. Eine Beobachtung der Demokratiebeobachtung. Zur Diagnose demokratischer Regression - Philip Manow
5. Demokratie im Zeichen des Notstands - Jonathan White
* Politische Theorie der Regression
6. Eine demokratische Theorie demokratischer Regressionen [paper] - Fabio Wolkenstein
7. Regression und Erneuerung der Demokratie: eine psychoanalytische Perspektive - Claudia Landwehr
8. Exit-Politik als Regression. Wider den souveränen Voluntarismus [paper] - Svenja Ahlhaus & Markus Patberg
* Nicht-Regression und Fortschritt
9. Die Herrschaft der Unvernunft. Zum Begriff der (anti-)demokratischen Regression [paper] - Rainer Forst
10. Der Imperativ der Nicht-Regression. Adorno, Habermas und die Pfadabhängigkeit von Sperrklinkeneffekten - Peter Niesen
11. Kritik der Regression - Jakob Huber
* Konstitutionelle Demokratie und die Pluralisierung des Demokratieverständnisses
12. Zum Verhältnis von demokratischer und konstitutioneller Regression unter populistischen Regierungen. Eine empirische Analyse [paper] - Jasmin Sarah König & Tilko Swalve
13. Nichtmajoritäre Institutionen – eine Gefahr für die konstitutionelle Demokratie? - Stefan Voigt
14. Das Demokratieverständnis der Bevölkerung und die Regression der Demokratie - Norma Osterberg-Kaufmann
Ed. by Paul Weithman
(Cambridge University Press, 2023)
377 pages
Description
In 1971 John Rawls's A Theory of Justice transformed twentieth-century political philosophy, and it ranks among the most influential works in the history of the subject. This volume of new essays marks the 50th anniversary of its publication with a multi-faceted exploration of Rawls's most important book. A team of distinguished contributors reflects on Rawls's achievement in essays on his relationship to modern political philosophy and 20th-century economic theory, on his Kantianism, on his transition to political liberalism, on his account of public reason and contemporary challenges to it, on his theory's implications for problems of racial justice, on democracy and its fragility, and on Rawls's enduring legacy.
Contents
Introduction [preview] - Paul Weithman
Part I: Rawls and History
1. Taillight Illumination: How Rawlsian Concepts May Improve Understanding of Hobbes’s Political Philosophy - S. A. Lloyd
2. The Theory Rawls, the 1844 Marx, and the Market - Daniel Brudney
3. Rawls, Lerner, and the Tax-and-Spend Booby Trap: What Happened to Monetary Policy? [paper] - Aaron James
4. Rawls’s Principles of Justice as a Transcendence of Class Warfare - Elizabeth Anderson
5. The Significance of Injustice - Peter de Marneffe
Part II: Developments between A Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism
6. On Being a “Self-Originating Source of Valid Claims” - Stephen Darwall
7. Moral Independence Revisited: A Note on the Development of Rawls’s Thought from 1977–1980 and Beyond - Samuel Scheffler
8. The Method of Insulation: On the Development of Rawls’s Thought after A Theory of Justice - Rainer Forst
9. The Stability or Fragility of Justice [paper] - Japa Pallikkathayil
Part III: Rawls, Ideal Theory, and the Persistence of Injustice
10. The Circumstances of Justice [paper] - Erin I. Kelly
11. Why Rawls’s Ideal Theory Leaves the Well-Ordered Society Vulnerable to Structural Oppression - Henry S. Richardson
12. Race, Reparations, and Justice as Fairness - Tommie Shelby
13. On the Role of the Original Position in Rawls’s Theory: Reassessing the “Idealization” and “Fact-sensitivity” Critiques - Laura Valentini
Part IV: Pluralism, Democracy, and the Future of Justice as Fairness
14. Public Reason at Fifty - Kevin Vallier
15. Reasonable Political Conceptions and the Well-Ordered Liberal Society - Samuel Freeman
16. Religious Pluralism and Social Unions - Paul Weithman
17. One Person, at Least One Vote? Rawls on Political Equality …within Limits - David Estlund
18. Reflections on Democracy’s Fragility [paper] - Joshua Cohen
19. A Society of Self-Respect [paper] - Leif Wenar
On the occasion of its 100th anniversary, "Institut für Sozialforschung" (IfS) is hosting an international conference "Futuring Critical Theory" at Goethe University Frankfurt on September 13–15, 2023.
* Section 1: Dissecting Critical Theory
* Section 2: Globalizing Critical Theory
* Section 3: Materializing Critical Theory
* Section 4: Recomposing Critical Theory
See the programme here.
Abstracts here.
Registration here.
Special issue of "Communication Theory" (vol. 33, nos. 2-3, 2023) on the role and future of public sphere theory in digital societies:
Reconceptualizing public sphere(s) in the digital age? (Open access)
Articles by Mark Eisenegger, Mike S Schäfer, Axel Bruns, Uwe Hasebrink, Thomas N. Friemel, Christoph Neuberger, Sarah J. Jackson, Daniel Kreiss, Hallvard Moe, Pascal Schneiders, Michael Brüggemann, Hendrik Meyer, Hans-Jörg Trenz, Lewis A Friedland, Risto Kunelius, Andreas Jungherr, and Ralph Schroeder.