Journal article
Habermas's 'other' legitimation crisis: critical-philosophical dimensions
Radical philosophy review : RPR, v 4(1-2), pp 205-228
01 Jan 2001
Abstract
A kind of political complacency has become a common complaint of Habermasian philosophy. At odds with some earlier stances, according to which he had claimed to represent the best critical hopes of a Marxist tradition that he regarded as exhausted, Habermas has come to defend the legitimacy of liberal democratic institutions and forms of political expression. No longer the last Marxist, but a hesitant post-Marxist, Habermas is today arguably the foremost intellectual spokesperson for a presently existing democracy which bears as much relation to its stated principles as did the so-called socialisms suffered during the Cold War. The author seeks in this article merely to identify the philosophical bases for the seemingly increasing conservatism of Habermas's thought. I argue that tensions between the normative dimensions of communicative rationality emerge more clearly as Habermas moves from a general account of discourse, to ethics, and then to democratic politics. Habermas increasingly embraces an abstract normativity and abandons the practical-critical dimensions which were embedded in the counterfactual moment of communicative action. The normative ground for politics itself has narrowed to accommodate the abstract normativity of discourse. Reprinted by permission of the Philosophy Documentation Center
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Details
- Title
- Habermas's 'other' legitimation crisis: critical-philosophical dimensions
- Creators
- Peter AmatoPhilosophy Documentation Center
- Publication Details
- Radical philosophy review : RPR, v 4(1-2), pp 205-228
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- English and Philosophy
- Other Identifier
- 991020534934704721