This is the first book in English about one of the most important conflicts in social theory today. Gorm Harste analyzes the Habermas-Luhmann debate from its inception through Habermas's most recent works, exploring issues such as methodology, ideology, truth, history, and politics. He contextualizes their positions in terms of how each grappled with the legacy of Nazism and sought to provide grounding for an antitotalitarian politics. Harste follows the evolution of the debate, as the fundamental dispute over the normative and practical desirability of agreement and disagreement came to touch upon political questions including the rule of law, the separation of powers, human rights, individualization, and secularization. Ultimately, Harste emphasizes the convergence between Habermas and Luhmann? and the pressing need for social theorists to further unite these two formative accounts of contemporary society.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Preface and Acknowledgments
Part I: A Debate Unlike Any Other
Introduction
1. The Historical Context of the Debate
Part II: Meaning, Language, and Communication
2. How a Debate Takes Off
3. Intersubjectivity and Lifeworld
Part III: Between History and Evolution
4. History and Evolution: The Initial Debates
5. Evolution and History: The Harvest (1977- )
Part IV: The Debate on Legitimacy
6. Complexity and Democracy (1968-71)
7. Paradoxes of Legitimacy: Crises and Risks (1973-91)
8. "Before the Law" (1992- )
Part V: Further Debates
9. Broader Perspectives-Luhmann, Habermas, Foucault, and Bourdieu
Epilogue: Habermas's Limitations to Secularization (2019)
Notes
Reference List
Index
