ABSTRACT

Reading across the whole range of Habermas' work, this book traces the development of the theory of communicative reason from its inception to its defence against postmodernism. Bernstein's analyses are always problem centred and thematic rather than textual, making this a major contribution to the critical literature on Habermas.

chapter |9 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|25 pages

Critical Theory — The Very Idea

Reflections on nihilism and domination

chapter 2|23 pages

Liberty and the Ideal Speech Situation

chapter 3|30 pages

Self-Knowledge as Praxis

Narrative and narration in psychoanalysis

chapter 4|48 pages

Moral Norms and Ethical Identities

On the linguistification of the sacred

chapter 5|23 pages

The Generalized Other, Concrete Others

chapter 6|38 pages

The Causality of Fate

On modernity and modernism

chapter 7|38 pages

Language, World-Disclosure and Judgment