The Elgar Companion to Jürgen Habermas

The Elgar Companion to Jürgen Habermas

Ed. by William Outhwaite & Larry Ray

(Edward Elgar, 2025)

332 pages

Description

This companion provides a comprehensive guide to Jürgen Habermas’s prodigious body of work, bringing together contributions from leading specialists. It explores his main areas of study in chronological order, including topics such as the public sphere and the history of philosophy, to which he has returned in his recent books.

Addressing both the continuities and shifts of Habermas’s writings over the past 70 years, multidisciplinary contributions analyse his most recent opus on post-metaphysical philosophy and religion. They present essential theoretical and conceptual frameworks for understanding modern-day crises and, using Habermas’s theory, consider the potential for societal emancipation. Chapters discuss sociology and philosophy, the theory of law and democracy, religion and the challenges of practical reason, as well as Habermas’s global reception. 

Contents

1. Introduction - William Outhwaite & Larry Ray

2. Sociology and philosophy in the work of Jürgen Habermas - Stefan Müller-Doohm

3. Habermas: theory and diagnoses of the times - Marcos Nobre

4. Is Habermas a critical theorist? Continuities and discontinuities in the Frankfurt School - Fabian Freyenhagen

5. Schelling in the work of Jürgen Habermas: from the philosophy of history to the historicity of communicative action - Dorothee Zucca

6. The genesis of Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit - Roman Yos

7. Knowledge and human interests: epistemology as social theory? - Simon Susen

8. Continuities and discontinuities in Habermas’ relation to historical materialism - William Outhwaite

9. From Kant to Hegel but not back: the intersubjective foundations of Habermas’s concept of the lifeworld - Dorothee Zucca

10. Theory of law and democracy - Regina Kreide

11. Revolutionary transcendence at the core of social integration - Hauke Brunkhorst

12. Habermas and the European Union: contributions to a discourse theory of supranational democracy - Markus Patberg

13. The relation of reason and religion in late Habermas - Hans-Herbert Kögler

14. Voices in the public sphere: Habermas, feminism, and the pursuit of recognition - Marina Calloni

15. Solidarity and critical reason - Isabelle Aubert

16. Habermas reception worldwide - William Outhwaite

Neues Buch: Habermas im Philosophischen Seminar 1969

Jürgen Habermas im Philosophischen Seminar der Frankfurter Universität, Januar 1969. Ein Bild und seine Geschichte

Max Scheler

Texte von Jürgen Habermas und Michael Krüger 

(München: Schirmer/Mosel, 2025)

Kurzbeschreibung

Ein Bild und seine Geschichte heißt eine neue Reihe des Schirmer/Mosel-Verlags. Jeder Band ist einem ikonischen Bild gewidmet. Die ausgewählten Bildbeispiele können dabei dem Bereich der Fotografie wie auch dem klassischen Medium der Malerei oder einem Film entnommen sein. Ein Bild sagt mehr als tausend Worte , heißt es in einem berühmten Sprichwort. Und wie viel mehr mag uns ein Bild sagen, wenn ein kluger Text dem Betrachter die Augen öffnet Max Scheler jun., geb. 1928 in Köln, war als Photograph für den Stern tätig, als er im Jahr 1969 nach Frankfurt geschickt wurde, um die Studentenunruhen zu photographieren. Anlass war die für den Stern reizvolle Tatsache, dass es bei diesen Unruhen zu einer Konfrontation zwischen der dabei aktiven studentischen Tochter des Frankfurter Polizeipräsidenten und der Polizei kommen sollte. Max Scheler nutzte die Gelegenheit und photographierte nicht nur auf der Straße, sondern auch im Seminar des Philosophieprofessors Jürgen Habermas, der als geistiger Urheber und als Auslöser dieser Unruhen galt. Dabei entstand dieses Portrait von Professor Habermas im Raum seines Universitätsseminars, das seine Einzigartigkeit auch dadurch erhält, dass der Photograph der Sohn des Philosophen Max Scheler war, der an gleicher Stelle in Frankfurt einmal gelehrt hatte. 

Inhalt

1. Jürgen Habermas: Was ich beim Anblick dieses Fotos nach 56 Jahren erinnere (pp. 11-17

2. Michael Krüger: "Dem Menschen ist im Großen und Ganzen nicht zu helfen." Über Max Scheler, Jürgen Habermas, meinen Vater (und mich) und die Revolution (pp. 19-67)

Helmut Fahrenbach dies at age 97

The Bloch-blog reported yesterday that Helmut Fahrenbach has died at the age of 97:

"Der Philosoph Helmut Fahrenbach ist im Alter von fast 97 Jahren gestorben".

Jürgen Habermas: "Hope Without Faith"

An English translation of Jürgen Habermas's "Ein Geburtstagsgruß", originally published in "Den Diskurs bestreiten. Religion im Spannungsfeld zwischen Erfahrung und Begriff. Festschrift für Thomas M. Schmidt", ed. by Michael Roseneck, Annette Langner-Pitschmann & Tobias Müller (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2025):

* "Hope Without Faith" 

(The Lamp. A Catholic Journal of Literature, Science, the Fine Arts, Etc, issue 32, 2025).

See also:

* Christian Geyer – “Bischöfe, aufgepasst! Jürgen Habermas pocht auf Transzendenz”, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 11-10-2025.

* Magnus Striet – “Unbestimmte Gottesrede? Jürgen Habermas fordert den sakramentalen Komplex heraus”, Herder Korrespondenz, vol. 79, no. 12 (2025), pp. 48-51.

* Albrecht Grözinger – “Wird Habermas im Alter radikal? Alte Frage - neu gestellt: Was ist Religion?”, Zeitzeichen. Evangelische Kommentare zu Religion und Gesellschaft, vol. 26, no. 10 (2025).

* William Rehg – “Hope in a Post-Secular Age. Jürgen Habermas’s challenge to Christians”, Commonweal, vol. 152, no. 1 (2025).

New book: Critical Encounters with Habermas’s Political and Legal Theory

Critical Encounters with Habermas’s Political and Legal Theory

ed. by John Abromeit, Matthew Dimick & Paul Linden-Retek

(Leiden: Brill, 2025)

Description

With over a dozen contributions from scholars across a range of disciplines, this book revisits Jürgen Habermas’s de­fining text on legal and political theory, Between Facts and Norms (1992). The contributors interrogate the prospects for Habermas’s optimistic defense of liberal democracy in our current age of straining global capitalism and menacing authoritarian populisms. The authors arrive at different conclusions, with some contributors engaging directly with his theory while others assessing it through the prisms of political economy, the media, policing, employment discrimination law, international relations theory, social movements, democratic institutions and the historical context of Between Facts and Norms.

The book is based on papers presented at the conference "Critical Encounters with Habermas' Legal Theory" in May 2023 (Presentation abstracts are available).

Contents [pre-view]

1. John Abromeit, Matthew Dimick & Paul Linden-Retek – Introduction: the Pasts and Futures of Between Facts and Norms – a Critical Exchange

Part 1: BFN and the Challenge of Neoliberalism and Political Economy

2. John Abromeit - Historicizing Habermas’s Between Facts and Norms: a Critique from the Perspective of Early Frankfurt School Critical Theory

3. Brian Caterino & Phillip Hansen - Between Facts and Norms at 30. Habermas, Neoliberalism and Radical Democracy

4. William E. Scheuerman - What’s Left? Democratic Theory in Between Facts and Norms after Three Decades [Abstract]

5. Matthew Dimick - How the Legal Form Distorts Public and Private Autonomy

6. Michael J. Thompson - Why Proceduralism Is Not Enough: Reading Habermas in an Age of Democratic Decline

Part 2: BFN and Political (and Legal) Theory

7. Isabelle Aubert - Between Facts and Norms Facing Pseudo-Democracy

8. Rúrion Melo - In Search of Counter-Tendencies: on the Heuristic Potential of the Public Sphere in Habermas’s Between Facts and Norms

9. David Ingram - Democratic Theory’s Existential Crisis: Between Discourse and Partisan Empowerment

10. Cristina Lafont - Is Democratic Legitimacy Purely Procedural? An Institutional Account of the Legitimacy of Democratic Decision-Making

11. Erin R. Pineda - Policing the Public Sphere

12. Matthew Specter - A Great Misrecognition: How Between Facts and Norms Was Conflated with (but Resists) the Cosmopolitan Moment in 1990s International Relations Theory

13. Seyla Benhabib - Afterword: The Specter of Popular Sovereignty in Habermas’s Between Facts and Norms

Seyla Benhabib receives the Hannah Arendt Prize

Seyla Benhabib will receive the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thinking in 2025. The award ceremony will take place in Bremen on December 9, 2025.

See the press release here.

Also: 

* Jörg Später - "Philosophin Benhabib: Wie finden wir gemeinsam in die Moderne?" (FAZ) 

* Robert Matthies - "Hannah-Arendt-Preis für Seyla Benhabib. Brücken bauen ohne Geländer" (taz)

* Gaye İlhan Demiryol - "Die Menschenwürde verteidigen: Seyla Benhabib und das Denken mit Hannah Arendt".

* Interview with Seyla Benhabib - "Wir sehen die Verwandlung des Staates in ein mafiöses Unternehmen" (FAS 07-12-2025)

Her most recent book is "At the Margins of the Modern State. Critical Theory and Law" (Polity Press, 2025).

Habermas: Things Needed to Get Better

Things Needed to Get Better

Conversations with Stefan Müller-Doohm and Roman Yos

by Jürgen Habermas

(Polity Press, 2025)

186 pages

Description

In this book Jürgen Habermas offers a wide-ranging reflection on his life and work and on the factors that shaped the development of his thought. He discusses the motives behind his work, the circumstances under which it emerged and the changes it has undergone over the course of his long and productive career. He speaks about the events and the texts that played a decisive role in his thinking and he recounts key encounters with colleagues. The image that emerges is that of a richly intertwined network of relationships which covers large swathes of the intellectual map of the twentieth century and reaches through to the present day.

Looking back at the development of his thought, Habermas discusses the specific historical circumstances that shaped his generation, identifies key experiences with his intellectual mentors, explores recent historical tendencies and political beliefs and talks about his own scholarly works and their reception. Time and again we see the normative impulse that lies behind so much of Habermas’s work: "I view the attempt to make the world even the tiniest bit better, or even just to be part of the effort to stave off the constant threats of regression that we face, as an utterly admirable motive."

Originally published in German in 2024: "Es musste etwas besser werden..." (Suhrkamp). Translated by Wieland Hoban. 

Contents

1. Beginnings of an Academic Biography

2. Frankfurt, a New World and the Old Heidelberg

3. From the Critique of Positivism to the Critique of Functionalist Reason

4. Postmetaphysical Thinking and Detranscendentalized Reason

5. Looking Back on "Also a History of Philosophy"

6. In Philosophical Discourse with Friends and Colleagues

It is a great honour that, in the book, Habermas expresses his thanks to me for my bibliography of the extensive secondary literature on the Habermas Forum website: “I am very grateful for this extraordinary commitment and the bibliographical inventory of an overwhelming and constant stream of secondary literature” (p. 76).