Jurgen Habermas
Jurgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermasis a German sociologist and philosopher in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. He is perhaps best known for his theories on communicative rationality and the public sphere. Global polls consistently find that Habermas is widely recognized as one of the world's leading intellectuals...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth18 June 1929
CountryGermany
Jurgen Habermas quotes about
affected estimate german-philosopher narrow nor
In the U.S.A. or Europe there is no realistic way to estimate the type, magnitude, or probability of the risk, nor any way to narrow down the potentially affected regions.
views moral no-excuses
From a moral point of view, there is no excuse for terrorist acts, regardless of the motive or the situation under which they are carried out.
goal cynical terrorism
Global terrorism is extreme both in its lack of realistic goals and in its cynical exploitation of the vulnerability of complex systems.
murder
Each murder is one too many.
agreement understanding claims
Reaching and understanding is the process of bringing about an agreement on the presupposed basis of validity claims that are mutually recognized.
differences identity demand
Subjects who reciprocally recognize each other as such, must consider each other as identical, insofar as they both take up the position of subject; they must at all times subsume themselves and the other under the same category. At the same time, the relation of reciprocity of recognition demands the non-identity of one and the other, both must also maintain their absolute difference, for to be a subject implies the claim of individuation.
expression speakers
The speaker must choose a comprehensible [verstandlich] expression so that speaker and hearer can understand one another.
opportunity goal cynical
Technically speaking, since our complex societies are highly susceptible to interferences and accidents,they certainly offer ideal opportunities for a prompt disruption of normal activities. These disruptions can, with minimum expense, have considerably destructive consequences. Global terrorism is extreme both in its lack of realistic goals and in its cynical exploitation of the vulnerability of complex systems.
frozen principles action
[Critical social science attempts] to determine when theoretical statements grasp invariant regularities of social action as such and when they express ideologically frozen relations of dependence that can in principle be transformed.
understanding tasks mutual
The task of universal pragmatics is to identify and reconstruct universal conditions of possible mutual understanding.
encounters avant-garde landscape
The avant-garde understands itself as invading unknown territory, exposing itself to the dangers of sudden, shocking encounters, conquering an as yet unoccupied future ... The avant-garde must find a direction in a landscape into which no one seems to have yet ventured.
enemy knows
One never really knows who one's enemy is.
embarrassing danger uncertain
A threatened nation can react to uncertain dangers solely through administrative channels, to the truly embarrassing situation of perhaps overreacting
country differences political
The difference between political terror and ordinary crime becomes clear during the change of regimes, in which former terrorists become well-regarded representatives of their country.