Postmetaphysical Thinking Between Metaphysics and the Critique of Reason

by Habermas, Jü; rgen

• ISBN13: 9780745614120
• ISBN10: 0745614124
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-01-17
• Publisher: Polity

Summary

In this new collection of recent essays, Habermas takes up and pursues the line of analysis begun in The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity. He begins by outlining the sources and central themes of twentieth-century philosophy, and the range of current debates. He then examines a number of key contributions to these debates, from the pragmatic philosophies of Mead, Perice and Rorty to the post-structuralism of Foucault.Like most contemporary thinkers, Habermas is critical of the Western metaphysical tradition and its exaggerated conception of reason. But he cautions against the temptation to relinquish this conception altogether. In opposition to the radical critics of Western philosophy, Habermas argues that postmetaphysical thinking can remain critical only if it preserves the idea of reason while stripping it of its metaphysical trappings. Habermas contributes to this task by developing further his distinctive approach to problems of meaning, rationality and subjectivity.This book will be of particular interest to students of philosophy, sociology and social and political theory, and it will be essential reading for anyone interested in the continuing development of Habermas's project.

Author Biography

Jürgen Habermas is a German philosopher and sociologist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. He is perhaps best known for his theories on communicative rationality and the public sphere. In 2014, Prospect readers chose Habermas as one of their favourites among the "world's leading thinkers".

Table of Contents

Translator's Introduction

A Return to Metaphysics?

The Horizon of Modernity Is Shifting

Metaphysics after Kant

Themes in Postmetaphysical Thinking

The Turn to Pragmatics

Toward a Critique of the Theory of Meaning

Pearce and Communication

Between Metaphysics and the Critique of Reason

The Unity of Reason in the Diversity of Its Voices

Individuation through Socialization: On George Herbert Mead's Theory of Subjectivity

Philosophy and Science as Literature?

Index

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