Habermas, Jürgen
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Core ideas
Habermas opens by insisting that society does not depend only on technologies and on the knowledge that feeds them: it also depends on the "proper continuation, reconstruction and criticism of its own traditions", because these traditions give us an orientation for understanding human beings in society and in the world. Asked which themes of his research he considers the most important, he names democracy first. It was, he says, the obvious alternative to the regime under which he lived until the age of fifteen, and he describes himself as a product of "re-education" in postwar Germany. Democracy is, in his words, a "red thread" through his work, from its beginning to his present interests in legal philosophy and international law: he has always been convinced that there is a cognitive dimension in the democratic procedure, which is why he calls himself one of the first and most vigilant defenders of deliberative democracy.
Deliberative democracy leads him to the second major theme of his work, communicative rationality. He explains that everyday communication carries a kind of push to give reasons and to be more or less reasonable, to answer questions such as "why did you say that?" or "why did you do that?", and this motivated him to pursue the kind of reason that is built into everyday language. On the prize he has received, he says he is confident that his colleagues in Berlin will know how to develop its foundation further, and adds a personal remark: he felt ambivalent about it, proud but aware that he grew up in postwar Germany within a generation of other productive sociologists and philosophers, and could probably not have written any book without being part of a generational discourse in his country. He can therefore accept such a prize only if it is also dedicated to the whole academic context without which he "wouldn't have become someone".
Excerpts
“I do think that it is very important not to forget that society is not only depending on technologies and the knowledge which feeds into new technologies but that society is indeed depending on a proper continuation, reconstruction and criticism of its own traditions, because these traditions are the ones who give us a certain orientation of how to understand men in society, men in the world.”
“I was always convinced that there is a cognitive dimension in this democratic procedure, and this is why I am one of the first and most vigilant defenders of deliberative democracy.”
“I couldn't have probably written any book without being part of a generational discourse in my country, so that I can accept such a prize only if I think that it is also dedicated to a whole academic context, without which I wouldn't have become someone.”