Harvard Colloquium: Critical Theory at 100

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

Out now in English: Habermas' "Also a History of Philosophy", volume 1

Also a History of Philosophy 

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. 

New book: Zur Diagnose demokratischer Regression

Zur Diagnose demokratischer Regression

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

New book: Rawls’s "A Theory of Justice" at 50

Rawls’s A Theory of Justice at 50

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

International conference in Frankfurt: Futuring Critical Theory

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.

Public sphere theory in digital societies

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.

Reviews of "Ein neuer Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit"

Two reviews of Jürgen Habermas's "Ein neuer Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit und die deliberative Politik" (Suhrkamp, 2022):

* Hubertus Buchstein in "Politische Vierteljahresschrift", forthcoming (Open access)

* Rainer Freudenthaler in "Publizistik", forthcoming (Open access)

See my list of reviews of Habermas's book here.

Discourse Ethical Perspectives on Education

In ”Educational Theory” (vol. 73, no. 2): Discourse Ethical Perspectives on Education in Polarized Political Cultures

* Christopher Martin – “Symposium Introduction: Discourse EthicalPerspectives on Education in Polarized Political Cultures” (open access)

* Julian Culp – “Democratic Citizenship Education in Digitized Societies: A Habermasian Approach"

* Christopher Martin – “Educational Institutions and Indoctrination” (open access)

* Anniina Leiviskä – “Truth, Moral Rightness, and Justification: AHabermasian Perspective on Decolonizing the University” (open access)

* Krassimir Stojanov – “Inclusive Universalism as a Normative Principleof Education” (open access)

* Darron Kelly – “Conceptualizing a Practical Discourse Survey Instrument for Assessing Communicative Agency and Rational Trust in Educational Policymaking”

* Gertrud Nunner-Winkler – “Discourse Ethics: A Pedagogical Policy for Promoting Democratic Virtues”

10 most influential thinkers on the left

 In the Spanish newspaper "El pais" (25-06-2023): 

The ten most influential thinkers on the left (according to 37 experts): Karl Marx, Judith Butler, Antonio Gramsci, Thomas Pikkety, Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt, Simone de Beauvoir, Jürgen Habermas, Karl Polanyi and Walter Benjamin.

"Los diez pensadores que más influyen en la izquierda" (pay wall).

The Critical Theory of Society

The new issue of "European Journal of Social Theory" (May 2023) features articles on "The Critical Theory of Society":

* Patrick O’Mahony - "Introduction to special issue: The critical theory of society" (PDF)

* Klaus Eder - "Pandora’s box: The two sides of the public sphere" (PDF)

* Piet Strydom - "The critical theory of society: From its Young-Hegelian core to its key concept of possibility" (Abstract)

* Johann P. Arnason - "Lessons from Castoriadis: Downsizing critical theory and defusing the concept of society" (Abstract)

* Hartmut Rosa & Peter Schulz - "Synthesis, Dynamis, Praxis: Critical Theory’s ongoing search for a concept of society" (Abstract)

* Regina Kreide - "Social critique and transformation: Revising Habermas’s colonisation thesis" (PDF)

* Tracey Skillington - "Thinking beyond the ecological present: Critical theory on the self-problematization of society and its transformation" (PDF)

* Patrick O’Mahony - "Critical theory, Peirce and the theory of society" (PDF)

* Daniel Chernilo - "On the relationships between critical theory and secularisation: The challenges of democratic fallibility and planetary survival" (Abstract)

Book launch of "Rawls Handbuch"

Book Launch of "Rawls Handbuch" on July 6.-7. in Frankfurt am Main:

More information here.

Pour le Mérite - Laudatio for Habermas

In "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (June 12, 2023):

Peter Schäfer - "Die Zukunft ist eine andere. Eine Laudatio zur Aufnahme von Jürgen Habermas in den Orden Pour le Mérite" (paywall)

Free access here.

See also my blog post: 

Habermas receives the order "Pour le Mérite" (23-07-2022).

Rawls-Handbuch

Rawls-Handbuch. Leben – Werk – Wirkung

Hrsg. von Johannes J. Frühbauer, Michael Reder, Michael Roseneck & Thomas M. Schmidt

(J.B. Metzler, 2023)

692 Seiten

Kurzbeschreibung

Mit seiner "Theorie der Gerechtigkeit" löste John Rawls (1921–2002) eine Renaissance der normativen politischen Theorie aus, da sie Fragen nach der gerechten Verteilung von Gütern und Chancen wieder als eine zentrale philosophische Aufgabe ernst nahm. Es gilt als eines der einflussreichsten Werke der politischen Philosophie des 20. Jahrhunderts und kann nach wie vor als konstruktiver Beitrag zu aktuellen Diskussionen um Verteilungsgerechtigkeit gesehen werden. Mit seinem zweiten Hauptwerk "Politischer Liberalismus" hat er die Debatte eröffnet, wie wir unter Bedingungen einer pluralistischen Gesellschaft auf vernünftige Weise gemeinsam leben können. Das Werk von Rawls besitzt eine zentrale Bedeutung für die politische Philosophie der Gegenwart und für angrenzende Disziplinen wie Sozialwissenschaften, Rechtswissenschaften oder Theologie. Das Handbuch ist das erste deutschsprachige Nachschlagewerk, welches auf dem aktuellen internationalen Forschungsstand das Gesamtwerk von Rawls in seiner Entwicklung darstellt, zentrale Begriffe erläutert und zudem die wichtigsten Referenzen und Diskussionen vorstellt.

Inhalt [pdf] [preview]

• Werk: Schriften
• Werk: Vorlesungen
• Werk: Sonstiges
• Referenzautoren
• Begriffe und Konzepte
• Wirkung: Rezeption
• Rezeption: Diskurse
• Wirkung: Rawls und seine Kritiker/innen

Beiträge von Otfried Höffe, Thomas M. Schmidt, Tim Reiß, Peter Niesen, Oliver Hidalgo, Michael Roseneck, Regina Kreide, Johannes J. Frühbauer, Andreas Gösele, Eva Buddeberg, Michael Reder, Sofie Møller, Darrel Moellendorf et al.

Conference on Habermas' Legal Theory, May 26-27

An international conference on Jürgen Habermas' Legal Theory in "Between Facts and Norms", May 26 - 27, 2023, at the University of Buffalo:

"Critical Encounters with Habermas' Legal Theory"

Zoom access is available.

Keynote speaker: Seyla Benhabib.

Also: Isabelle Aubert, David Ingram, Matthew Specter, Cristina Lafont, William Scheuerman, John D. Abromeit, Phillip Hansen, Brian Caterino, Rurion Melo, Matthew Dimick, and Erin Pineda.

Further information here (location, schedule, abstracts).

Habermas's dissertation on Schelling (free access)

Jürgen Habermas's dissertation from 1954 is now available online:

Das Absolute und die Geschichte. Von der Zwiespältigkeit in Schellings Denken [Free access] (Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg)

Thanks to Hannes Kerber for the pointer!

See links to 165 free online texts by Jürgen Habermas at HabermasForum.

New book: Free and Equal

Free and Equal

What Would a Fair Society Look Like?

by Daniel Chandler

(Penguin/Allen Lane, 2023)

416 pages

Description

Imagine: you are designing a society, but you don't know who you'll be within it - rich or poor, man or woman, gay or straight. What would you want that society to look like? This is the revolutionary thought experiment proposed by the twentieth century's greatest political philosopher, John Rawls. As economist and philosopher Daniel Chandler argues in this hugely ambitious and exhilarating intervention, it is by rediscovering Rawls that we can find a way out of the escalating crises that are devastating our world today.

Taking Rawls's humane and egalitarian liberalism as his starting point, Chandler builds a careful and ultimately irresistible case for a progressive agenda that would fundamentally reshape our societies for the better. He shows how we can protect free speech and transcend the culture wars; get money out of politics; and create an economy where everyone has the chance to fulfil their potential, where prosperity is widely shared, and which operates within the limits of our finite planet. This is a book brimming with hope and possibility - a galvanising alternative to the cynicism that pervades our politics. 

Contents [Preview]

Introduction

1. What's Fair

2. A New Social Contract

3. Rawls and His Critics

4. Freedom

5. Democracy

6. Equality of Opportunity

7. Shared Prosperity

8. Workplace Democracy

Conclusion

Daniel Chandler is an economist and philosopher based at the London School of Economics. An interview with Daniel Chandler at Literary Hub (May 2023). 

Reviews:

* Jonathan Wolff (Times Literary Supplement)

* Alan Ryan (Literary Review)

* Stuart Jeffries (The Guardian)

* Jonathan Derbyshire (Financial Times)

New book: A Critical Theory of Global Justice

A Critical Theory of Global Justice.

The Frankfurt School and World Society 

by Malte Frøslee Ibsen

(Oxford University Press, 2023)

384 pages

Description

The idea of a critical theory is famous across the world, yet it is today rarely practised as originally conceived by the Frankfurt School. The waning influence of critical theory in the contemporary academy may be due to its lack of engagement with global problems and the postcolonial condition. This book offers the first systematic treatment of the idea of a critical theory of world society, advancing the conversation between critical theory and postcolonial and ecological thought. Malte Frøslee Ibsen develops a reconstruction of the Frankfurt School tradition as four paradigms of critical theory, in original interpretations of the work of Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno, Jürgen Habermas, and Axel Honneth, and considers how the global context has featured in their work and what might be salvaged for a critical theory of contemporary world society. Along the way, Ibsen advances new interpretations of the relationship between critical theory and justice, the idea of communicative freedom, and three conceptions of power in the Frankfurt School tradition. He further offers extended discussions of two emerging paradigms in the work of Amy Allen and Rainer Forst and argues that a critical theory of world society must combine and integrate a Kantian constructivist approach in a critique of global injustice, as Forst defends, with the reflexive check of a self-problematizing critique of its blind spots and taken-for-granted assumptions regarding the postcolonial condition, as defended by Allen. Finally, Ibsen rethinks the relationship between society and nature in critical theory, with far-reaching normative and methodological implications.

Contents [Preview]

Introduction

Part I: Horkheimer

1. Max Horkheimer and the Original Paradigm of Critical Theory

2. Horkheimer's Original Paradigm and the Idea of a Critical Theory of World Society

Part II: Adorno

3. Theodor W. Adorno and the Negativist Paradigm of Critical Theory

4. Adorno's Negativist Paradigm and the Idea of a Critical Theory of World Society

Part III: Habermas

5. Jürgen Habermas and the Communicative Paradigm of Critical Theory

6. Habermas's Communicative Paradigm and the Idea of a Critical Theory of World Society

Part IV: Honneth

7. Axel Honneth and the Recognition Paradigm of Critical Theory

8. Honneth's Recognition Paradigm and the Idea of a Critical Theory of World Society

Part V: Allen and Forst

9. Amy Allen's Contextualist Paradigm of Critical Theory

10. Rainer Forst's Justification Paradigm of Critical Theory

Conclusion

Review:

"In this excellent book, Ibsen offers a critical reconstruction of the Frankfurt School tradition that is alert to its Eurocentric blindspots and aims to articulate the theoretical basis of a critical theory of global justice that is adequate to contemporary world society. Intellectually rich, philosophical acute and lucidly written, this is a work that should be read by all of those engaged with critical theory broadly conceived, whether within the Frankfurt School tradition or outside of it." - David Owen, Professor of Social and Political Philosophy, University of Southampton.

Axel Honneth & Alexandra Schauer: What's critical about critical theory?

A discussion between Axel Honneth & Alexandra Schauer: What is critical about Critical Theory (The Frankfurt School)? Is Critical Theory still relevant to today's problems?

Audio: Was ist kritisch an der Kritischen Theorie? (Deutschlandsfunk Kultur, May 7, 2023; 47 minutes)

Presentation: Simone Miller.

Professor Axel Honneth is former director of the "Institut für Sozialforschung" in Frankfurt (2001-2018) . He has recently published "Der arbeitende Souverän: Eine normative Theorie der Arbeit" (Berlin: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2023). 

Dr. Alexandra Schauer is a research associate at the "Institut für Sozialforschung", Frankfurt. She is the author of "Mensch ohne Welt: Eine Soziologie spätmoderner Vergesellschaftung" (Berlin: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2023).

Omri Boehm on radical universalism

Omri Boehm’s talk on “radical universalism” in Berlin, April 16, 2023:

Video: Radical universalism (You Tube; 2 hours)

* Carolin Emcke's introduction

* Omri Boehm’s talk (in English) (9:37 – 45:00) 

* Dialogue with Martin Saar & Carolin Emcke (45:44 – 2:05:00).

Omri Boehm is Associate Professor and Chair of Philosophy at The New School for Social Research, New York. He is the author of “Radikaler Universalismus. Jenseits von Identität” (Propyläen Verlag, 2022).

Forthcoming: Vernünftige Freiheit und öffentliche Vernunft

Forthcoming on Suhrkamp Verlag (March 2024):

Stefan Müller-Dohm, Smail Rapic & Tilo Wesche (eds.): 

Vernünftige Freiheit und öffentliche Vernunft

Beiträge zum Spätwerk von Jürgen Habermas

Die Texte dieses Bandes setzen sich mit dem monumentalen Versuch von Jürgen Habermas in "Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie" auseinander, in unkonventioneller Weise zweieinhalbtausend Jahre abendländischer Philosophie als Lernprozess zu rekonstruieren. Zentraler Diskussionspunkt ist dabei die Idee vernünftiger Freiheit, die als Leitfaden des Spätwerks entschlüsselt wird. Aus philosophischer, soziologischer, theologischer und rechtstheoretischer Perspektive wird diese Idee einer kritischen Prüfung unterzogen und das Anregungspotenzial von Habermas' Überlegungen für die weitere Forschung ausgelotet. Dieser bezieht in einer ausführlichen Replik Stellung zu den Beiträgen. 

Symposium on "Ein neuer Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit"

In "Constellations" (vol. 30, no.1, March 2023):

Symposium on Jürgen Habermas's "Ein neuer Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit und die deliberative Politik" (Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2022):

* Peter J. Verovšek - Authorship and individualization in the digital public sphere

* William E. Scheuerman - A not-very-new structural transformation of the public sphere

* Hubertus Buchstein - Being a master of metaphors

* Claudia Ritzi - The hidden structures of the digital public sphere

* Simone Chambers - Deliberative democracy and the digital public sphere: Asymmetrical fragmentation as a political not a technological problem

* Thorsten Thiel - A polarizing multiverse? Assessing Habermas’ digital update of his public sphere theory [open access]

* Cristina Lafont - A democracy, if we can keep it. Remarks on J. Habermas’ a new structural transformation of the public sphere

* Sebastian Sevignani - “Ideology and simultaneously more than mere ideology”: On Habermas’ reflections and hypotheses on a further structural transformation of the political public sphere

* Joshua Cohen &  Archon Fung - Democratic responsibility in the digital public sphere

An English translation of Habermas's book is scheduled to be out in November 2023 on Polity, translated by Ciaran Cronin.

Richard J. Bernstein in memoriam

Out now in "Constellations": 

Richard J. Bernstein (1932-2022) in memoriam

Jürgen Habermas - "For my friend Richard J. Bernstein" (open access)

Rainer Forst - "Democratic faith. A philosophical profile of Richard J. Bernstein" (open access)

Also contributions by Seyla Benhabib, Axel Honneth, Nancy Fraser, Joel Whitebook, María Pía Lara, Philip Kitcher, and Judith Friedlander. 

English translation of Habermas's "Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie"

The English translation of Jürgen Habermas's "Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie" will be published by Polity Books in three volumes.

The first volume is scheduled to be out in September/November 2023.

See the table of contents here.

New book on "Democratic Respect"

Democratic Respect

Populism, Resentment, and the Struggle for Recognition

by Christian F. Rostbøll

(Cambridge University Press, 2023)

234 pages

Description

"Democratic Respect" is about how democracy should recognize the people. The debate over the meaning and value of populism is essentially a debate over this question. Populism promises to provide the people the recognition that they deserve. We should not understand populist resentment as blindly emotional but as a struggle for recognition based on moral experiences that can be explained by people’s beliefs. By adopting a participant attitude and associating populist resentment with alleged violations of democratic principles, we can discuss what citizens and governments owe one another in terms of recognition and respect. Not all struggles for recognition contribute to the deepening of democracy, and we must distinguish between different kinds of recognition in order to understand why populism is often a threat to what this book calls democratic respect. How democracy should recognize the people relates to debates over the meaning and value of democratic procedures, rights, majority rule, compromise, and public deliberation. The book disputes the widespread assumption that populism is essentially democratic and only against liberal constraints on majority rule. The shortcoming of populism is not that its understanding of democracy lacks substantive constraints, but that it fails to appreciate the procedural value of democracy.

The book includes discussions of Jürgen Habermas, Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, and John Rawls.

Contents [pdf] [Preview]

Introduction: Recognition of the People [Excerpt, pdf]

1. Recognition and the Politics of Resentment

2. Respect, Esteem, and Solidarity

3. Rights and the Populist Claim for Recognition

4. Procedures, Outcomes, or Identification? 

5. Respecting Disagreement

6. Publicity and Correcting Democracy

Christian F. Rostbøll is Professor of Political Theory at University of Copenhagen. He is author of "Deliberative Freedom. Deliberative Democracy as Critical Theory" (SUNY Press, 2008).

20% discount on this book: Enter the code DCR2023 at www.cambridge.org/9781009340878.

Rawls's critique of welfare state capitalism

Catherine Audard has written a new paper on John Rawls and the fight against structural injustices:

"Addressing the rise of inequalities: How relevant is Rawls's critique of welfare state capitalism?" (open access)

(forthcoming in "Journal of Social Philosophy")

From the Introduction:

In this article, I examine Rawls's "political" critique of WSC [welfare state capitalism] and of its inability to fight structural injustices together with his proposal for POD [property-owning democracy] as a realistic prospect and a credible alternative to WSC. Section 2 describes the rise of inequalities of wealth and power as a source of structural injustices, and Rawls's insight as to why WSC is unable to fight them. Section 3 presents Rawls's alternative proposal of POD with its two ambitions, to protect, but also to emancipate citizens and guarantee their full rights. Section 4 asks whether POD can fully articulate these two aims and answer Sen's criticism (Sen, 1999) that this is still a "resourcist" solution that fails to fully emancipate citizens. Section 5 tentatively suggests that the justification for POD must rest on a new paradigm that redefines the nature of the Self in developmental terms (Audard, 2019), both capable and vulnerable over time (Nussbaum, 2006). The fight against inequalities of wealth through POD can then be justified as it aims at increasing agency and social mobility for all, not simply consumption and utility maximization, and, most importantly, as a basis for democratic citizenship and the full value of political liberties (Thomas, 2017b; White, 2015; White, 2016).

Catherine Audard is a Visiting Fellow Fellow at the Department of Philosophy of the London School of Economics. She is the author of "John Rawls" (Acumen Press, 2007).

What Good is Philosophy? Ukraine Benefit Conference

Ukraine Benefit Conference, March 17-19,  2023, organized by Aaron James Wendland:

A Benefit Conference for Ukraine aims to raise the funds required to establish a Centre for Civic Engagement at Kyiv Mohyla Academy.

Session 1 (video)

* A.J. Wendland – ‘Introduction: On War and Philosophy’

* Jennifer Nagel – ‘Philosophy, For Better, For Worse, and In Itself’

* Quassim Cassam – ‘Liberation Philosophy’

* Volodymyr Yermolenko – ‘Thinking in Dark Times’

Session 2 (video)

* Sally Haslanger – ‘Philosophy and Paradigm Shifts’

* Philip Pettit – ‘From Philosophy to Politics’

* Elizabeth Anderson – ‘Philosophy is for Everyone’

* Jeff McMahan – ‘What Good Is Moral Philosophy?’

Session 3 (video)

* Kieran Setiya – ‘Public Philosophy, Amelioration, and Existential Value’

* Agnes Callard – ‘The Paradise Paradox’

* Dominic Lopes – ‘Beauty at the Barricades’

* Margaret Atwood – ‘Crisis Literature

Session 4 (video)

* Timothy Snyder – ‘Thinking About Freedom in Wartime Ukraine’

* Jonathan Wolff – ‘Values and Public Policy’

* Jason Stanley ­– ‘Discourses of Genocide’

* Seyla Benhabib – ‘Philosopher’s Dreams of Perpetual Peace’

Session 5 (video)

* Kate Manne – ‘Philosophy and Gaslighting: It’s (Not) All in Your Mind’

* Barry Lam – ‘Discretion: A Philosophical Analysis of the Power of Bureaucrats’

* David Enoch – ‘What Good Is Political Philosophy in the Face of an Acute Political Crisis?’

* Peter Godfrey-Smith – ‘Philosophy and the Events of the Day’

Session 6 (video)

* Peter Adamson – ‘What Good Is a History of Philosophy ‘Without Any Gaps’?’

* Angie Hobbs – ‘Public Philosophy in an Age of Uncertainty’

* Melissa Lane – ‘Philosophizing Our Way Out of the Cave’

* Timothy Williamson – ‘Debating the Good’

Session 7 (video)

* Simon Critchley – ‘Question Everything’

* Tim Crane – ‘Philosophy as Freedom of Thought’

* Mychailo Wynnyckyj – ‘Grappling with Evil’

* Amb. Yulia Kovaliv – ‘Conclusion: Defending Democracy’

New papers on "Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie"

The new issue of "Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie" (vol. 69, no. 2) features articles on Jürgen Habermas‘ "Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie" (Suhrkamp, 2019):

* Georg Kohler – "Vernunftinteresse, Religion und Philosophie. Zu Jürgen Habermas’ grossem Diskurs über Glauben und Wissen" [Abstract]

* Samuel Vollenweider – "Ein achsenzeitlicher Booster: Das frühe Christentum in der Sicht von Jürgen Habermas" [Abstract]

* Theo Kobusch – "Die “Hellenisierung des Christentums“ – ein Irrweg. Zur Begegnung von Christentum und Hellenismus in J. Habermas' Philosophiegeschichte" [Abstract]

* Peter Schulthess – "Eine Auseinandersetzung mit Habermas’ pragmatischer Sicht auf Augustin" [Abstract]

* Martin Bondeli – "Kant und Hegel in Habermas’ Genealogie nachmetaphysischen Denkens" [Abstract]

* Jean-Claude Wolf – "Habermas liest Kierkegaard" [Abstract]

Video: "Habermas - und das Begreifen der Gegenwart"

Professor Philipp Felsch (Berlin) and Professor Martin Saar (Frankfurt) talk about Jürgen Habermas's critical theory and his interventions in the public debates in Germany:

"Jürgen Habermas - und das Begreifen der Gegenwart" (video; 1 h 50 m)

(Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, Dresden, March 16, 2023)

See also discussions on Hegel, Marx, Adorno, Arendt & Luhmann.

Ernst Tugendhat has died aged 93

In Memoriam: Ernst Tugendhat (1930-2023):

Gertrud Nunner-Winkler - "Wahrheit undSelbstbestimmung", literaturkritik.de, 24-03-2023

Christoph Schulte - "The Non-Jewish Jewish Philosopher", Jüdische Allgemeine, online 17-03-2023

Thomas Assheuer - "Moralisch sein, trotz allem", Die Zeit, 16-03-2023

Doris Helmberger-Fleckl - "Nachdenken über Logik, Ethik und das Nichts", Die Furche, 16-03-2023

Alexander Grau - "Klarheit statt vorgetäuschten Tiefsinn", Cicero, online 15-03-2023

Alexander Grau - "Ernst Tugendhat (1930-2023)", Die Weltwoche, online 15-03-2023

Stefan Gosepath - "Memorial notice", Daily Nous (blog), online 15-03-2023

Thomas Ribi - "Staunen, bis zum Schluss", Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 15-03-2023

Micha Brumlik - "Sprachanalyse und Mystik", taz, 15-03-2023

Jürgen Kaube - "Seitliche Relativierung des eigenen Daseins", Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 15-03-2023

Mara Delius - "Sagen, was ist", Die Welt, 15-03-2023

Bundespräsident Frank-Walter Steinmeier, 14-03-2023

Stefan Gosepath im Gespräch, Deutschlandsfunk, 14-03-2023

Thomas Meyer - "Ein Wohnsitz in der Welt", Süddeutsche Zeitung, 14-03-2023

Karl Gaulhofer - "Er dachte so, wie ein Philosoph denken sollte", Die Presse, 14-03-2023

Ursula Wolf - "Denken über Sprache", Deutschlandfunk Kultur, 13-03-2023

G. H. Holländer - "Philosoph Ernst Tugendhat gestorben", Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, online 13-03-2023

Michael Hesse - "Der Solitär", Frankfurter Rundschau, online 13-03-2023

Afterword to Scanlon's "Why Does Inequality Matter?"

Tim Scanlon has uploaded an afterword to his great book "Why Does Inequality Matter?" (Oxford University Press, 2018): 

"Afterword" (at academia.edu)

Responses to Habermas's "A Plea for Negotiations" [updated]

Responses to Jürgen Habermas's "Ein Plädoyer für Verhandlungen" (Süddeutsche Zeitung, 15-02-2023):

Atilio A. Borón - "The West shows Jürgen Habermas a red card", Time News, online 20-06-2023.

Franz-Josef Overbeck – "Die Ursachen bekämpfen. Katholische Friedensethik nach der Zeitenwende“, Herder Korrespondenz, 5/2023, pp. 26-29.

Stefan Müller-Doohm – "Benjamin Gollme im Gespräch mit Stefan Müller-Doohm" [Interview], Kontrafunk, 31-03-2023

Stefan Müller-Doohm - "Die Gewalt muss ein Ende haben", Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 16-03-2023.

Konrad Schuller - "Willst du Frieden, sprich vom Krieg", Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 12-03-2023.

Oskar Lafontaine - "Wir brauchen eine neue Friedensbewegung", Die Weltwoche, 09-03-2023.

Thomas Ribi - "Der unvernünftige Hüter der Vernunft", Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 09-03-2023.

Stephan Hebel - "Keine simplen Gleichungen", Frankfurter Rundschau, 07-03-2023.

Helmut K. Anheier - "Germany’s Self-Centered War Debate", Project Syndicate, online 28-02-2023.

Robert Treichler - "Was gegen „Frieden“ spricht", Profil, 26-02-2023.

Michael Ignatieff - "Only brute determination on the battlefield will win the war", The Globe and Mail, 25-02-2023.

Bascha Mika - "Ukraine-Krieg und Pazifismus: Eine Zäsur, auch im Denken", Frankfurter Rundschau 24-02-2023.

Gerd Koenen - "Wer den Blick senkt, hat schon verloren", Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 24-02-2023.

Heinrich August Winkler - "Es geht auch um unsere Freiheit" (interview), Handelsblatt, 24-02-2023.

Lennart Laberenz - "Ukraine-Krieg: Die Verblendung der deutschen Linken", Der Freitag online 23-02-2023.

Peter Neumann - "Seine Sorge", Die Zeit, 23-02-2023.

Thomas Zaugg - "Die Friedensbewegten – festgefahren im geschichtspolitischen Dilemma", Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 23-02-2023.

Armin Nassehi - "Der falsche Gegensatz", Die Zeit online, 21-02-2023.

Martin Schulze Wessel - "Imperium oder nichts", Die Zeit online 21-02-2023.

Andrea Gawrich & Anna Veronika Wendland - "Wo Habermas irrt", Salonkolumnisten (blog), 21-02-2023.

Stefan Müller-Doohm - "Er kann gar nicht anders, als sich zu äußern" (interview), Frankfurter Rundschau 21-02-2023.

Peter Strasser - "Der Krieg als Denkprobe", Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 20-02-2023.

Herfried Münkler - Das sind Schlachten wie 1915 bis 1919“ (interview), Die Welt, 20-02-2023.

Mathias Brodkorb - "Das Orakel vom Starnberger See", Cicero online, 19-02-2023

Robin Alexander - "Wen man nicht als rechts diffamieren kann, den macht man lächerlich", Die Welt online, 18-02-2023.

Reinhard Schulze - "Krieg und Gegenkrieg – auch eine Antwort auf Jürgen Habermas", Journal21.ch, 18-02-2023.

Robin Alexander - "Respekt für Habermas", Die Welt, 18-02-2023.

Daniel Cohn-Bendit & Claus Leggewie - "Habermas unterschlägt die Risiken", taz - die Tageszeitung, 18-02-2023.

Kurt Kister - "Du hältst es nicht aus. Debatte um Jürgen Habermas und den Krieg", Süddeutsche Zeitung, 18-02-2023.

Wolfgang Ischinger - "Bei allem Respekt für Jürgen Habermas" (interview), Die Welt online, 17-02-2023.

Mladen Gladic - "Die Offensive der Verhandlungsfreunde", Die Welt, 17-02-2023.

Jan C. Behrends - "Lauter blinde Flecken", Die Zeit online, 16-02-2023.

Michael Jäger - "Jürgen Habermas plädiert für Verhandlungen: Genealogie des Weltfriedens", Der Freitag online 16-02-2023.

Christian Geyer - "Habermas", Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 16-02-2023.

Ronald Pohl - "Habermas plädiert für "rechtzeitige Verhandlungen"“, Der Standard, 16-02-2023.

Gerrit Bartels - "Sorgen vor einem dritten Weltkrieg", Der Tagesspiegel, 16-02-2023.

Gregor Dotzauer - "Die Waffen der Vernunft", Der Tagesspiegel, 16-02-2023.

Michael Hesse - "Schlafwandeln am Rande des Abgrundes", Frankfurter Rundschau, 16-02-2023.

Corinna Hauswedell - "Habermas und der Krieg" (interview), Deutschlandsfunk, 15-02-2023.

Herfried Münkler - "Verhandlungen sind keine Alternative zum Kämpfen" (interview), Deutschlandfunk Kultur, 15-02-2023.

Tobias Rapp - "Der Abwehrzauber", Der Spiegel online, 15-02-2023.

Kurt Kister - "Was treibt diesen Mann?", Süddeutsche Zeitung, 15-02-2023.