Verovsek, P.J. (2019) A case of communicative learning?: Rereading Habermas’s philosophical project through an Arendtian lens. Polity, 51 (3). pp. 597-627. ISSN 0032-3497
Abstract
Jürgen Habermas has sought to set critical theory on firm normative foundations by drawing on thinkers outside the canon of Western Marxism. My basic thesis is that Hannah Arendt is a crucial but underappreciated resource for his intellectual development. To make this point, I focus on Arendt’s importance for Habermas’s work on the public sphere in the 1960s and the social theory he developed in the 1970s and ‘80s, despite his reluctance to cite her writings in his early career. More generally, I argue that rereading Habermas’s critical theory through Arendt’s political thought helps to clarify the importance of politics within his work, thus countering accusations that he is an abstract thinker of “high liberalism” who is uninterested in “real politics.” A greater appreciation of Arendt’s work as a condition of possibility for Habermas’s philosophy demonstrates the importance of reading their work together as part of a common project.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 University of Chicago Press. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in Polity. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Hannah Arendt; communicative turn; Jürgen Habermas; intellectual history; critical theory |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Politics and International Relations (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 04 Jun 2018 11:01 |
Last Modified: | 04 Jun 2020 00:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | University of Chicago Press |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1086/703988 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:131426 |