Verovšek, P.J. (2021) The philosopher as engaged citizen : Habermas on the role of the public intellectual in the modern democratic public sphere. European Journal of Social Theory, 24 (4). pp. 526-544. ISSN 1368-4310
Abstract
Realists and supporters of ‘democratic underlabouring’ have recently challenged the traditional separation between political theory and practice. Although both attack Jürgen Habermas for being an idealist whose philosophy is too removed from politics, I argue that this interpretation is inaccurate. While Habermas’s social and political theory is indeed oriented to truth and understanding, he has sought realize his communicative conception of democracy by increasing the quality of political debate as a public intellectual. Building on his approach, I argue that giving the theorist a direct role in public policy undermines theory as an enterprise oriented towards truth while overlooking the contingency, participatory nature and complicated internal logics of social and political practice. My basic thesis is that Habermas’s understanding of the relationship between theory and practice overcomes these difficulties by providing an account of theory that is independent but simultaneously also allows philosophers to participate in politics as public intellectuals.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Author. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in European Journal of Social Theory. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Jürgen Habermas; Public Intellectuals; Theory and Practice; Realism; Democratic Underlabouring |
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) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number British Academy MD19\190002 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 07 Apr 2021 07:04 |
Last Modified: | 10 Feb 2022 11:22 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/13684310211003192 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:172849 |