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Jürgen Habermas (jürgen + haberma)
Selected AbstractsIntegral conflict analysis: A comprehensive quadrant analysis of an organizational conflictCONFLICT RESOLUTION QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2005Richard McGuigan Influenced by Ken Wilber's brilliant synthesis of some of the world's most influential thinkers, including Jürgen Habermas, the authors have developed an integral model of conflict analysis and action. The integral approach has been helpful in explaining conflict dynamics to clients and allows more comprehensive response, thus ensuring a greater chance of successful intervention. [source] Jürgen Habermas's Theory of CosmopolitanismCONSTELLATIONS: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CRITICAL AND DEMOCRATIC THEORY, Issue 4 2003Robert Fine In this paper we explore the sustained and multifaceted attempt of Jürgen Habermas to reconstruct Kant's theory of cosmopolitan right for our own times. In a series of articles written in the post-1989 period, Habermas has argued that the challenge posed both by the catastrophes of the twentieth century, and by social forces of globalization, has given new impetus to the idea of cosmopolitan justice that Kant first expressed. He recognizes that today we cannot simply repeat Kant's eighteenth-century vision: that if we are to grapple with the complexities of present-day problems, it is necessary to iron out certain inconsistencies in Kant's thinking, radicalize it where its break from the old order of nation-states is incomplete, socialize it so as to draw out the connections between perpetual peace and social justice, and modernize it so as to comprehend the "differences both in global situation and conceptual framework that now separate us from him."1 His basic intuition, however, is that Kant's idea of cosmopolitan right is as relevant to our times as it was to Kant's own. If it was Kant's achievement to formulate the idea of cosmopolitanism in a modern philosophical form, Habermas takes up the challenge posed by Karl-Otto Apel: to "think with Kant against Kant" in reconstructing this idea. What follows is a critical assessment of Habermas's response to this challenge. We focus here on the dilemmas he faces in grounding his normative commitment to cosmopolitan politics and in reconciling his cosmopolitanism with the national framework in which he developed his ideas of constitutional patriotism and deliberative democracy. [source] Origins of the French RevolutionHISTORY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 4 2007Gail Bossenga There is at present no comprehensive interpretation of the origins of the French Revolution. Because of the fragmented state of the argument, this article explores several perspectives that have influenced research on the Revolution's origins including Alexis de Tocqueville's view of the state; research on the politics of the court at Versailles and the parlements; fiscal origins by institutional economic historians; and cultural approaches, including the analysis of the public sphere by Jürgen Habermas. It concludes that the collapse of the Old Regime was the result of a variety of converging causes, many of which had deep roots in the institutional structure of the old regime. The state itself generated institutional contradictions by both reinforcing privilege and implementing policies that undercut privilege in the quest for greater administrative efficiency. Ministerial incompetence combined with new forces, including enhanced international pressure from efficient British war finance and the growing appeal to public opinion, made reform increasingly difficult and created conditions favorable to revolution when the state went bankrupt in 1789. [source] Computer-Mediated Communication and The Public Sphere: A Critical AnalysisJOURNAL OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION, Issue 1 2001Lincoln Dahlberg In recent times much has been said about the possibility that the two-way, decentralized communications of cyberspace can provide sites of rational-critical discourse autonomous from state and economic interests and thus extending the public sphere at large. In this paper the extent to which the Internet does in fact enhance the public sphere is evaluated. Online deliberative practices are compared with a normative model of the public sphere developed from the work of Jürgen Habermas. The evaluation proceeds at a general level, drawing upon more specific Internet research to provide a broad understanding of the democratic possibilities and limitations of the present Internet. The analysis shows that vibrant exchange of positions and rational critique does take place within many online fora. However, there are a number of factors limiting the expansion of the public sphere online. These factors include the increasing colonization of cyberspace by state and corporate interests, a deficit of reflexivity, a lack of respectful listening to others, the difficulty of verifying identity claims and information put forward, the exclusion of many from online political fora, and the domination of discourse by certain individuals and groups. The article concludes by calling for more focused Internet-democracy research to address these problems further, research for which the present paper provides a starting point. [source] Genetic Enhancement as Care or as Domination?JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION, Issue 1 2005The Ethics of Asymmetrical Relationships in the Upbringing of Children Should a society oriented towards justice provide parents with the possibility of enhancing their children's genes? The opposing arguments of authors in the Rawls School and of the theorist of communicative action, Jürgen Habermas, are analysed in terms of their key concepts. Their positions are then assessed from the point of view of the principles of the pedagogical task to educate towards autonomy under conditions of asymmetry. They each call for respect both of children's difference and of their dependence, and they ask for parents to moderate their expectations. In the light of this, Habermas's critique of genetic intervention, based on a Kantian understanding of autonomy as the capacity to be moral, on Kierkegaard's concept of being able to be oneself, and on respect for finitude, is here to be justified. [source] G. H. Mead in the history of sociological ideasJOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES, Issue 1 2006Filipe Carreira da Silva My aim is to discuss the history of the reception of George Herbert Mead's ideas in sociology. After discussing the methodological debate between presentism and historicism, I address the interpretations of those responsible for Mead's inclusion in the sociological canon: Herbert Blumer, Jürgen Habermas, and Hans Joas. In the concluding section, I assess these reconstructions of Mead's thought and suggest an alternative more consistent with my initial methodological remarks. In particular, I advocate a reconstruction of Mead's ideas that apprehends simultaneously its evolution over time and its thematic breadth. Such a historically minded reconstruction can be not only a useful corrective to possible anachronisms incurred by contemporary social theorists, but also a fruitful resource for their theory-building endeavors. Only then can meaningful and enriching dialogue with Mead begin. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Modes of rationality in nursing documentation: biology, biography and the ,voice of nursing'NURSING INQUIRY, Issue 2 2005Abbey Hyde Modes of rationality in nursing documentation: biology, biography, and the ,voice of nursing' This article is based on a discourse analysis of the complete nursing records of 45 patients, and concerns the modes of rationality that mediated text-based accounts relating to patient care that nurses recorded. The analysis draws on the work of the critical theorist, Jürgen Habermas, who conceptualised rationality in the context of modernity according to two types: purposive rationality based on an instrumental logic, and value rationality based on ethical considerations and moral reasoning. Our analysis revealed that purposive rationality dominated the content of nursing documentation, as evidenced by a particularly bio-centric and modernist construction of the workings of the body within the texts. There was little reference in the documentation to central themes of contemporary nursing discourses, such as notions of partnership, autonomy, and self-determination, which are associated with value rationality. Drawing on Habermas, we argue that this nursing documentation depicted the colonisation of the sociocultural lifeworld by the bio-technocratic system. Where nurses recorded disagreements that patients had with medical regimes, the central struggle inherent in the project of modernity became transparent , the tension between the rational and instrumental control of people through scientific regulation and the autonomy of the subject. The article concludes by problematising communicative action within the context of nursing practice. [source] 1.,Globalization and Violence: The Challenge to EthicsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2009Edward Demenchonok Despite its many benefits, globalization has proven to harbor a good deal of violence. This is not only a matter of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction inaugurated by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, but includes many forms of indirect or "structural violence" resulting from the routine of economic and political institutions on the global scale. In this essay, the multifaceted phenomena of violence are approached from the standpoint of ethics. The prevailing political thinking associated with "realism" fails to address the problems of militarism and of hegemonic unilateralism. In contrast, many philosophers are critically rethinking the problem of global violence from different ethical perspectives. Despite sharing similar concerns, philosophers nevertheless differ over the role of philosophical reflection and the potentials of reason. These differences appear in two contrasting approaches associated with postmodern philosophy and discourse ethics. In the analysis of discourse ethics, attention is paid to Karl-Otto Apel's attempt of philosophically grounding a macroethics of planetary co-responsibility. At the heart of the essay is the analysis of the problem of violence, including terrorism, by Jürgen Habermas, who explains the phenomenon of violence in terms of the theory of communicative action as the breakdown of communication. Jacques Derrida's deconstruction of the notion of "terrorism" also is analyzed. According to the principle of discourse ethics, all conflicts between human beings ought to be settled in a way free of violence, through discourses and negotiations. These philosophers conclude that the reliance on force does not solve social and global problems, including those that are the source of violence. The only viable alternative is the "dialogical" multilateral relations of peaceful coexistence and cooperation among the nations for solving social and global problems. They emphasize the necessity of strengthening the international rule of law and institutions, such as a reformed United Nations. [source] Critical Dialogues: Habermasian Social Theory and International Relations1POLITICS, Issue 3 2005Alexander Anievas The works of Jürgen Habermas have been a theoretical inspiration for many students of international relations (IR). To date, however, the majority of critical IR approaches drawing from the Habermasian perspective have done so on purely philosophical grounds. This article will thus explore the utility of the social-theoretical aspects of Habermas's work for critical inquiries into world politics. To this end, it will examine four main elements of his work: the theory of communicative action; public sphere; lifeworld/system architecture; and discourse ethics. It will be argued that adopting the Habermasian conceptual apparatus provides a social-theoretical route to explaining the contradictory and often paradoxical nature of international relations in the epoch of ,globalisation'. While various constructivist approaches to IR have recently offered more socially-oriented applications of Habermas's theoretical framework, the majority of these studies have done so from predominately non-critical standpoints. This article will thus seek to explore the utility of Habermas's work in offering a critical social theory of world politics. [source] The Paradox of Integration: Habermas and the Unfinished Project of European UnionPOLITICS, Issue 2 2001Shivdeep Singh Grewal In a recent article Jürgen Habermas (1999) highlighted the potential for the European Union to act as a vehicle for the extension of democratic governance beyond the nation state, a project aimed at limiting the socially corrosive impact of globalisation. Yet this position appears paradoxical as the European Union itself exacerbates a major aspect of globalisation: the emasculation of national parliaments known as the ,democratic deficit'. This paradox can be understood by analysing the dynamics of post-war European integration through the lens of Habermasian social theory: EU evolution can lead either to the colonisation of the lifeworld by market and administrative subsystems (as with the democratic deficit), or to a process of lifeworld rationalisation conducive to pan-European solidarity and democracy. The latter of these tendencies could be encouraged through ,procedural democracy': this would institutionalise the conditions by which independent associations in European civil society, channelling their ,communicative power' through parliament, might reassert control over the two subsystems. In order to retain legitimacy, procedural EU democracy would have to link existing legislatures to the European Parliament, while citizenship would combine national and civic components. Hence the European Union would be more able than the nation-state to combine universal notions of justice with ethical pluralism. [source] Communication with the Environment?POLITICS, Issue 3 2000Non-human Nature in the Theories of Jürgen Habermas The theories of Jürgen Habermas provide us with a powerful analytical tool for the analysis of politics, including social movements. However, they are lacking in one particular area, the analysis of environmental politics. The reasons behind these difficulties can be traced through the development of Habermas's work and lie in the inability of non-human nature to participate in language-based discourse. The dilemma is acute , the ecocentric moral position needs grounding in the rationality of discourse if it is not to slip into possibly dangerous irrationality, but how can such a grounding occur? This article reviews the development of discussion in this area and investigates advocacy as a possible resolution of the problem. [source] Democratic Deficits of a Dualist Deliberative Constitutionalism: Bruce Ackerman and Jürgen HabermasRATIO JURIS, Issue 3 2005MARIELA VARGOVA It argues that Ackerman's version of democratic dualism sets strict normative distinctions between constitutional and ordinary political deliberations. As a result, it ignores everyday political processes and citizens' ordinary public deliberations and is unresponsive to ongoing social changes in a liberal pluralist society. On the other hand, Habermas's discursive constitution defends a dynamic relationship between constitutional and ordinary politics. It provides a better model of a continuous constitutional development that is more open to new social and historical circumstances. [source] The Interlocutor's Dilemma: The Place of Strategy in Dialogic TheoryCOMMUNICATION THEORY, Issue 1 2008William J. White This essay discusses the implications of a concept of strategy for dialogical perspectives on communication. It begins by locating in the dialogical perspective a "longing for the other" that equates communication with communion or mutuality. It draws from the theory of communicative action of Jürgen Habermas to discuss strategy as the "other" of communication and explores the paradox of Habermas's idea of communicative rationality in terms of the prisoner's dilemma of game theory. The essay considers the extent to which the strategic and the dialogic are woven together in communication and argues that the communicative orientations of interlocutors at any given instance are rightfully regarded as the product of situational logics conditioned by social and cultural commitments extant in that instance. Given that the impetus for strategy stems in part from concerns about social solidarity in the face of the exigences of everyday life, the essay concludes by directing attention to the interplay of the management of social fears and the expression of otherness in shaping the course of communicative encounters. Résumé Le dilemme de l,interlocuteur : La place de la stratégie dans la théorie dialogique Cet article commente les implications d'un concept de stratégie pour des perspectives dialogiques sur la communication. Il localise d,abord dans la perspective dialogique un « grand désir pour l'autre » qui compare la communication à la communion ou l,interdépendance. Il s'inspire de l,ouvrage Theory of Communicative Action de Jürgen Habermas pour traiter la stratégie comme étant « l'autre » de la communication, et il explore le paradoxe de l,idée habermassienne de la rationalité communicationnelle en lien avec le dilemme du prisonnier de la théorie des jeux. L'article explore à quel point le stratégique et le dialogique sont liés dans la communication, et soumet que les orientations communicationnelles des interlocuteurs dans un cas donné sont légitimement perçues comme étant le produit d,une logique situationnelle conditionnée par des engagements sociaux et culturels existants dans ce cas. Puisque l'impulsion pour la stratégie provient en partie de préoccupations envers la solidarité sociale en dépit des exigences de la vie quotidienne, l,article conclut en se concentrant sur l'interaction entre la gestion des peurs sociales et l,expression de l'altérité dans l'influence de l'évolution des rencontres communicationnelles. Abstract Das Dilemma des Gesprächspartnern: Ein Platz für Strategie in der Dialogtheorie Dieser Aufsatz diskutiert die Implikationen eines Konzepts der Strategie für dialogische Perspektiven in der Kommunikation. Es beginnt mit der Verortung innerhalb der dialogischen Perspektive eines "Ersehnen des Anderen", welches Kommunikation gleichsetzt mit Kommunion oder Gegenseitigkeit. Das Konzept, basierend auf der Theorie des Kommunikativen Handelns von Jürgen Habermas, diskutiert Strategie als das "andere" der Kommunikation und untersucht das Paradox der Habermasschen Idee einer Kommunikativen Rationalität im Sinne des Gefangenendilemma der Spieltheorie. Dieser Aufsatz berücksichtigt das Ausmaß zu welchem das Strategische und das Dialogische in der Kommunikation miteinander verbunden sind und argumentiert, dass kommunikative Orientierungen von Gesprächspartnern bei jeder Gelegenheit als ein Produkt der situationalen Logik, beeinflusst durch spezifische soziale und kulturelle Verpflichtungen dieser Gelegenheit, gesehen werden müssen. Unter der Annahme, dass der Impetus für Strategie teilweise aus den Bedenken hinsichtlich sozialer Solidarität im Angesicht der Notwendigkeiten des täglichen Lebens stammt, lenkt dieser Aufsatz am Ende die Aufmerksamkeit auf das Spiel zwischen dem Management sozialer Ängste und dem Ausdruck des Anderssein im Gestalten kommunikativer Begegnungen. Resumen El Dilema del Interlocutor: El Espacio de la Estrategia en la Teoría Dialógica Este ensayo discute las implicancias de un concepto de estrategia para las perspectivas dialógicas en la comunicación. Comienza localizando la perspectiva dialógica como una "nostalgia por el otro" que equipara a la comunicación con la comunión ó la mutualidad. Recurre a la Teoría de la Acción Comunicativa de Jürgen Habermas para discutir la estrategia del "otro" de la comunicación, y explora la paradoja de la idea de racionalidad comunicativa de Habermas en términos del dilema del prisionero de la teoría del juego. El ensayo considera hasta qué punto la estratégica y la dialógica están entretejidas juntas en la comunicación, y arguye que las orientaciones comunicativas de los interlocutores en una instancia dada son percibidas justamente como el producto de lógicas situacionales condicionadas por los compromisos sociales y culturales existentes en esa instancia. Dado que el ímpetu por la estrategia implica en parte una preocupación por la solidaridad social en la cara de las exigencias cotidianas, el ensayo concluye direccionando la atención hacia la relación entre el manejo de los miedos sociales y la expresión del otro que da forma al curso de los encuentros comunicativos. ZhaiYao Yo yak [source] | ||||||||||