Habermas: A Biography

Habermas: A Biography

â€˜JÃ¼rgen Habermasâ€™, wrote the American philosopher Ronald Dworkin on the occasion of the great European thinkerâ€™s eightieth birthday, â€˜is not only the worldâ€™s most famous living philosopher. Even his fame is famous.â€™ Now, after many years of intensive research and in-depth conversations with contemporaries, colleagues and Habermas himself, Stefan MÃ¼ller-Doohm presents the first comprehensive biography of one of the most important public intellectuals of our time. From his political and philosophical awakening in West Germany to the formative relationships with Adorno and Horkheimer, MÃ¼ller-Doohm masterfully traces the major forces that shaped Habermasâ€™s intellectual development. He shows how Habermasâ€™s life and work were conditioned by the possibilities offered to his generation in the unique circumstances of regained freedom that characterized postwar Germany. And yet Habermasâ€™s career is fascinating precisely because it amounts to more than a corpus of scholarly work, however original and influential that may be. For here is someone who continually left the protective space of the university in order to assume the role of a participant in controversial public debates Ã from the significance of the Holocaust to the future of Europe Ã and in this way sought to influence the development of social and political life in an arena much broader than the academy. The significance and virtuosity of Habermasâ€™s many writings over the years are also fully and expertly documented, ranging from his early work on the public sphere to his more recent writings on communicative action, cosmopolitanism and the postnational condition. What emerges from this biography is a vivid portrait of one of the great public intellectuals of our time Ã a unique thinker who has made an immense and lasting philosophical contribution but who, when he perceives that society is not living up to its potential for creating free and just conditions for all, becomes one of its most rigorous and persistent critics.
Country USA
Brand Polity
Manufacturer Polity
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber 9780745689067
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780745689067
ReleaseDate 0000-00-00

Country	USA
Brand	Polity
Manufacturer	Polity
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	9780745689067
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780745689067
ReleaseDate	0000-00-00

Habermas: A Biography

You might also like...