Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Habermas





In Modernity - An Incomplete Project, Jurgen Habermas defends the Enlightenment and his reference to modernity as an "incomplete project" through providing alternatives to postmodernist theories. Habermas was a huge critic of postmodernism - while I didn't really understand the whole notion of aesthetic modernity, it seemed like Habermas was more interested in the definition of modernity instead. I liked how the beginning was central around architecture/tradition, it transitioned well with our previous readings; the notion of societal modernization was something different for cmc right now but it related to topics that I'm covering in my ideology and mass culture class right now.


Overall, Habermas was convinced that scientific and rationalist spirit are still worth embracing and standing up for. In his writing, he stressed the importance of having faith in human reason and urged people not to abandon this 'modern' hope where more concentrated uses of reason may result in positive changes for the world. I think that's what Habermas means with this whole "incomplete project" stuff - how its yet to be fulfilled.


I'm also curious as to what Habermas' political affiliation was, conservative maybe? I know he was a member of the Frankfurt school of critical theory but I'm not sure if places him in a particular party. 


"on my honor, I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this post"


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