Habermas, Jürgen (1929-)

Jürgen Habermas is a German philosopher renowned for his work on the foundations of social theory, his analysis of advanced capitalist societies though “critical theory” but with a defense of modernity, and finally the idea of communicative competence and deliberative democracy. His work on the foundations of social theory is closely tied into other aspects of his thought.

Critical theory is the idea that the role of the social scientist is not just to analyze society but also to provide the means by which to change it. This Marxist thought is brought to fruition in critical theory by the idea that the end of social theory is action, not some proposition or law about the world. Habermas argues that the Enlightenment project of understanding the world through reason is unfinished: that is, our role is to complete the Enlightenment project and not to discard it, as relativists or postmodernists suggest. He argues that advanced capitalism has brought about inequality and exploitation, but completing the rationalist project will correct these flaws and bring equality. We attain this through a process of communicative competence or rationality. Modern capitalist societies and modern enlightenment thinkers use instrumental rationality, wherein rationality is seen as the efficient means of achieving our ends but says nothing about the worth of those ends, which are taken as given. However, social emancipation can be brought about through communicative rationality. The idea of communication is mutual understanding, and this can be achieved through universal pragmatics. Through discussion and mutual exchange, we can learn from and empathize with each other, even though we have myriad different desires and ends. The rationality here is through the structure of interpersonal linguistic competence, which will require a universal moral understanding. Attaining complete communication will require full moral understanding and entail complete human emancipation. In this way, Habermas thinks, the attainment of a true deliberative democratic system, equality, and humanity can be attained. He believes that we have developed this potential through evolution, but it has been distorted by competitive capitalist society.

Habermas believes that deliberation in the public sphere can shift means of power away from state organizations and capitalism and away from instrumental rationality into communicative rationality and the collective will of the people. He thinks that practical reasoning is carried out in actual discourse in public forums that enable people to reflect on their needs and obligations to each other. Through deliberation, it is harder for people to defend their own personal interests because they must justify the decisions they think public deliberative bodies should provide; doing so can lead to consensus. Power becomes the force for argument and practical rationality. Critics query whether power and rationality can be separated—that is, whether there is any objectivity in communicative rationality (or “argument”) or whether it always involves partiality. The latter would mean, Foucauldians argue, that there is always some domination even within [Page 302]Habermasian practical ethics. In other words, communication is the exercise of power and rhetoric.

Habermas thinks that through such public deliberation, false consciousness will be overcome and there will be no domination. Consensus can result—not partial consensus where the weak give way to the strong, but genuine consensus where each has listened to the other and reached practical agreement. In this account of practical deliberation in the public sphere, there is a role for experts, but their justifications for their positions must be open and understandable to all people. Through these means, power is transformed from the domination of capital and the state into a force that belongs to the people.

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