ABSTRACT
As a prominent member of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research, German philosopher and social theorist Jürgen Habermas (b. 1929) inherited the mantle of Adorno and Horkheimer. His theoretical outlook can be seen as both a development and critique of the earlier Frankfurt School project. He rejects the pessimism of its earlier outlook, especially in its critique of enlightenment rationality. Habermas is careful to distinguish between normative and instrumental rationality. The latter is positivistic in its outlook and serves to impoverish cultural life. A normative rationality, on the other hand, may serve as a force of social change. Habermas therefore endorses modernism as a continuation of the enlightenment project, and supports rationality as a potential source of emancipation.
