(1990). The German question—What role in the process of growing European rapprochement? World Futures: Vol. 29, The Future of European Integration, pp. 227-231.

ZusammenfassungDie öffentliche Wahrnehmung der Forschung mit extrakorporalen Embryonen bildet den Kern des vorliegenden Beitrags. Hierzu wurden über 400 Personen schriftlich befragt. Die Art der Embryonengewinnung (künstliche Erzeugung vs. überzählige Embryonen) wird als bedeutsam für die Bewertung der Forschung angesehen. Mehrheitlich besteht der Wunsch nach rechtlich klaren Grenzen. Die größte Ambivalenz zeigt sich hinsichtlich der Frage nach einer gesetzlichen Erlaubnis der Embryonenforschung. Umgekehrt hat die Bevölkerung eine eindeutigere Meinung zum Verbot von Embryonenforschung und zur Einführung strikter rechtlicher Regelungen. Die Wahl (...) der Mittelkategorie bei der Untersuchung der Einstellung ist durch das Ausmaß der Ambivalenz mitbestimmt. Es konnte nachgewiesen werden, dass Laien das Dilemma der Embryonenforschung ähnlich bewerten wie Experten. Der Wunsch nach einer Freigabe der Forschung mit Embryonen besteht bei einer Teilgruppe, jedoch ist dieser Wunsch von einem hohen Ausmaß an Ambivalenz begleitet. (shrink)

Die öffentliche Wahrnehmung der Forschung mit extrakorporalen Embryonen bildet den Kern des vorliegenden Beitrags. Hierzu wurden über 400 Personen schriftlich befragt. Die Art der Embryonengewinnung (künstliche Erzeugung vs. überzählige Embryonen) wird als bedeutsam für die Bewertung der Forschung angesehen. Mehrheitlich besteht der Wunsch nach rechtlich klaren Grenzen. Die größte Ambivalenz zeigt sich hinsichtlich der Frage nach einer gesetzlichen Erlaubnis der Embryonenforschung. Umgekehrt hat die Bevölkerung eine eindeutigere Meinung zum Verbot von Embryonenforschung und zur Einführung strikter rechtlicher Regelungen. Die Wahl (...) der Mittelkategorie bei der Untersuchung der Einstellung ist durch das Ausmaß der Ambivalenz mitbestimmt. Es konnte nachgewiesen werden, dass Laien das Dilemma der Embryonenforschung ähnlich bewerten wie Experten. Der Wunsch nach einer Freigabe der Forschung mit Embryonen besteht bei einer Teilgruppe, jedoch ist dieser Wunsch von einem hohen Ausmaß an Ambivalenz begleitet. (shrink)

Modernity's Consciousness of Time and Its Need for Self- Reassurance In his famous introduction to the collection of his studies on the sociology of ...

In this important volume Habermas outlines the views which form the basis of his critical theory of modern societies. The volume comprises five interlocking essays, which together define the contours of his theory of communication and of his substantive account of social change. ′What is Universal Pragmatics?′ is the best available statement of Habermas′s programme for a theoryof communication based on the analysis of speech acts. In the following two essays Habermas draws on the work of Kohlberg and others to (...) develop a distinctive account of moral consciousness and normative structures. ′Toward a Reconstruction of historical Materialsim′ takes these issues further, offering a wide–ranging reconstruction of Marx′s historical materialsim understood as a theory of social evolution. The final essay focuses on the question of legitimacy and on the legitimation problems faced by modern states. This book is essential reading for anyone concerned with the key questions of social and political theory today. (shrink)

Der kommunikativen Alltagspraxis müssen kognitive Deutungen, moralische Erwartungen, Expressionen und Wertungen einander durchdringen. Die Verständigungsprozesse der Lebenswelt bedürfen deshalb einer kulturellen Überlieferung auf ganzer Breite, nicht nur der Segnungen von Wissenschaft und Technik. So könnte die Philosophie ihren Bezug zur Totalität in einer der Lebenswelt zugewandten Interpretenrolle aktualisieren. Sie könnte mindestens dabei helfen, das stillgestellte Zusammenspiel des Kognitiv-Instrumentellen mit dem Moralisch-Praktischen und dem Ästhetisch-Expressiven wie ein Mobile, das sich hartnäckig verhakt hat, wieder in Bewegung zu setzen.

This article contains reflections on the further structural transformation of the public sphere, building on the author’s widely-discussed social-historical study, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, which originally appeared in German in 1962 (English translation 1989). The first three sections contain preliminary theoretical reflections on the relationship between normative and empirical theory, the deliberative understanding of democracy, and the demanding preconditions of the stability of democratic societies under conditions of capitalism. The fourth section turns to the implications of digitalisation (...) for the account of the role of the media in the public sphere developed in the original work, specifically to how it is leading to the expansion and fragmentation of the public sphere and is turning all participants into potential authors. The following section presents empirical data from German studies which shows that the rapid expansion of digital media is leading to a marked diminution of the role of the classical print media. The article concludes with observations on the threats that these developments pose for the traditional role of the public sphere in discursive opinion and will formation in democracies. (shrink)

James Bohman has succeeded in reinvigorating the old debate over explanation and understanding by situating it within contemporary discussions about sociological indeterminacy and complexity. I argue that Bohman's preference for a paradigm based on Habermas's theory of communicative action is justifiable given the explanatory deficiencies of ethnomethodological, rational choice, rule-based, and functionalist methodologies. Yet I do not share his belief that the paradigm is preferable to less formalized models of interpretation.

Essays discuss denial of Germany's Nazi past, the rise of the neoconservative movement in Europe and America, and the welfare state.

Habermas's 1971 Gauss Lectures, plus two additional essays, outlining an intersubjective approach to social theory.

We live in a time of turbulent change when many of the frameworks that have characterized our societies over the last few centuries – such as the international order of sovereign nation-states – are being called into question. In this new volume of essays and interviews, Habermas focuses his attention on these processes of change and provides some of the resources needed to understand them. What kind of international order should we seek to create in our contemporary global age? How (...) should we understand the political project of Europe and how can the democratic deficit of the EU be overcome? How should we understand the relation between democracy as popular sovereignty, which has become the defining principle of political legitimacy in the modern world, and the idea of basic human rights embodied in the rule of law? Habermas brings his formidable powers of analysis and his distinctive theoretical perspective to bear on these and other key questions of the modern age. His analysis is shaped throughout by his commitment to informed public debate and his powerful advocacy of a postnational renewal of the project of constitutional democracy. _Time of Transitions_ will be essential reading for all students and scholars of sociology and politics, and it will be of interest to anyone concerned with the key social and political questions of our time. (shrink)

The core of this book is a set of five lectures delivered by Habermas at Princeton in 1971 under the title 'Reflections on the Linguistic Foundation of Sociology'. These lectures offer a preliminary view of what would become The Theory of Communicative Action, and they form an excellent introduction to Habermas's ideas about communication and society. They lay out the general parameters of Habermas's project in an accessible way, and situate his work in relation to other theories of society, particularly (...) those of Edmund Husserl, Wilfrid Sellars, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Two additional essays elaborating the themes of the lectures are also included in this volume. 'Intentions, Conventions, and Linguistic Interactions' is an essay in the philosophy of action that focuses on the validity of social norms and examines the conceptual connections between rules, conventions, norm-governed action, and intentionality. 'Reflections on Communicative Pathology' addresses the question of deviant processes of socialization and contains an analysis of the formal conditions of systematically distorted communication. This book was designed as a companion to On the Pragmatics of Communication (1998), which took pieces from Habermas's later work to create a systematic introduction to his theory of formal pragmatics. (shrink)

The “global success” of nation states is currently brought into play by the new requirements of multicultural differentiation and globalization. After commenting on the common concepts of “state” and “nation” and discussing the formation of nation states, the author explains the particular achievement of the national state and the tension between republicanism and nationalism built into it. The challenges that arise from the multicultural differentiation of civil society and from trends towards globalization throw light on the limitations of this historical (...) type. (shrink)

The ArgumentWe present a number of findings concerning Galileo's major discoveries which question both the methods and the results of dating his achievements by common historiographic criteria. The dating of Galileo's discoveries is, however, not our primary concern. This paper is intended to contribute to a critical reexamination of the notion of discovery from the point of view of historical epistemology. We claim that the puzzling course of Galileo's discoveries is not an exceptional comedy of errors but rather illustrates the (...) normal way in which scientific progress is achieved. We argue that scientific knowledge generally develops not as a sequence of independent discoveries accumulating to a new body of knowledge but rather as a network of interdependent activities which only as a whole makes the individual steps understandable as meaningful “discoveries.”. (shrink)

The chances of the project of a “cosmopolitan order” being successful are not worse now than they were in 1945 or in 1989–1990. This does not mean that the chances are good, but we should not lose sight of the scale of things. The Kantian project first became part of the political agenda with the League of Nations, in other words after more than 200 years; and the idea of a cosmopolitan order first received a lasting embodiment with the foundation (...) of the United Nations (UN). This process points toward a continuation of the Kantian project. We can still take our cue from Kant's idea of a cosmopolitan condition if we simply construe it in sufficiently abstract terms. I wish to show first of all why I consider the Kantian alternative between a world of republic and a league of nations to be incomplete (section I) and will then go on to outline how we can reconceptualize the Kantian project under contemporary conditions (section II). And I shall close by addressing an actual challenge to which that project might well offer the most promising response (section III). (shrink)

This paper argues that the normative source of modern basic rights consists in the idea of human dignity. It is this idea through which rights derive a universalistic content of morality. Due to their being rights, human rights can serve to protect human dignity, which in turn owes its connotations of self-respect and social recognition to the intramundane status of democratic citizenship. This is associated with a realistic utopia whose aim at realizing social justice is intrinsic to the very institutions (...) of democratic constitutional states. (shrink)

Recent work in social epistemology has shown that, in certain situations, less communication leads to better outcomes for epistemic groups. In this paper, we show that, ceteris paribus, a Bayesian agent may believe less strongly that a single agent is biased than that an entire group of independent agents is biased. We explain this initially surprising result and show that it is in fact a consequence one may conceive on the basis of commonsense reasoning.

This paper addresses the problem of finding a Bayesian net representation of the probability function that agrees with the distributions of multiple consistent datasets and otherwise has maximum entropy. We give a general algorithm which is significantly more efficient than the standard brute-force approach. Furthermore, we show that in a wide range of cases such a Bayesian net can be obtained without solving any optimisation problem.

Contractarian theories are meant to settle the issue of when political authority meets the conditions of rational legitimacy. The author addresses the same issue, but using different premises and a different conceptual frame. He takes as his point of departure the two basic problems which rational collective will‐formation refers to ‐ conflict‐resolution and goal attainment. He then introduces the codes of law and power, with which such will‐formation can be institutionalized. The legitimation gap that then still remains open can be (...) filled by a practical reason which is not limited simply to morality but also permeates the procedures of law application, policy‐formation and legislation. These preliminary considerations remain within the limits of a thought‐experiment. (shrink)

European Journal of Philosophy, Volume 29, Issue 3, Page 543-551, September 2021.

En el presente artículo se analiza la actualidad de La propuesta de construir un orden mundial pacífico perfilada por Kant en su 'opúsculo La paz perpetua , publicado en 1795. Aunque los fundamentos filosóficos que subyacen en este emblemático e influyente ensayo han sido problematizados y el marco histórico se ha transformado profudamente, obligando a una radical reformulación, siguen en gran medida vigentes los principales objetivos propuestos. A la luz de Las ideas básicas del texto kantiano el autor examina algunas (...) observaciones formuladas contra la política de derechos humanos, mostrándose especialmente crítico con las objeciones vertidas por Carl Schmítt contra el pacifismo jurídico. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the question: Do persisting disagreements in constitutional interpretation affect the legitimacy of “the democratic system as a whole”? According to both Michelman and Waldron, the epistemic indeterminacy of interpretation—that is, the fact that principles do not possess stable meanings beyond, and independent of, their application to concrete cases—puts its finger on a point of the contractualist and prevailing political theory. But, if neither the legitimacy of any democratic order nor the standard of internal criticism can be (...) founded on a broad background consensus on constitutional essentials, “what else makes a deliberative process of legislation and adjudication a generator of legitimacy so that citizens are induced to accept controversial results as ‘worthy of respect’?” The route pursued goes beyond all views that require legitimacy to be based on sharing a set of “thick” ethical beliefs. In this perspective, the author argues that the performative meaning of constitution‐making “provides a thin yet sufficiently strong base,” which corresponds to the minimal requirements inherent in the very practice of framing a constitution. (shrink)