Between Reason and History
Habermas and the Idea of Progress
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The first book-length treatment in English of Habermas’s theory of social evolution and progress.
Description
Between Reason and History examines the role of the idea of progress both in Ju¬rgen Habermas's critical social theory and in critical social theory in general. The reception to Habermas's magnum opus, The Theory of Communicative Action, has tended to downplay the theory of social evolution it contains, but there are no in-depth examinations of this aspect of Habermas's critical theory. This book fills this gap by providing a comprehensive and detailed examination of Habermas's theory of social evolution, its significance within the wider scope of his critical social theory, and the importance of a theoretical understanding of history for any adequate critical social theory.
David S. Owen is Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Hamline University.
Reviews
"The first full-length study in English of this important aspect of Habermas's thought, this is a clearly written, very well researched, and cogently argued book. " — Thomas McCarthy, author of The Critical Theory of Jurgen Habermas
"This book is a real gem. Among scholarly works on Habermas, it is rare to find a book that so deftly combines scholarship, analytic precision and clarity, and highly readable prose. It is the only book devoted to treating in critical detail what is arguably the most important feature of Habermas's theory of social evolution. " — David Ingram, author of Habermas and the Dialectic of Reason
"It is an area of Habermasian studies that scholars have all too often neglected for the last twenty years. But the author not only deals very well with the material, but also reveals why this area is central to Habermas's critical project. " — James C. Swindal, author of Reflection Revisited: Jurgen Habermas's Discursive Theory of Truth