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JÜRGEN HABERMAS AND THE RATIONALIZATION OF COMMUNICATIVE INTERACTION *
Author(s) -
Ashley David
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.1982.5.1.79
Subject(s) - epistemology , enlightenment , rationalization (economics) , emancipation , transcendental number , communicative action , sociology , pragmatics , conflation , discourse ethics , argument (complex analysis) , philosophy , linguistics , law , political science , biochemistry , chemistry , politics
This paper analyzes J. Habermas's theory of “universal pragmatics” and examines the extent to which Habermas's ideal speech community is predicted upon a specific type of relationship between the individual and society. The ability of the theory of universal pragmatics to overcome the form of domination institutionalized by modern societies is questioned, and the argument is made that Habermas's radical program of emancipation is vitiated (1) by Habermas's conflation of “transcendental” and “situationally engaged” enlightenment and (2) by Habermas's inability to reintegrate practical‐emancipatory and technical forms of reason. Habermas's idea of “communicative competence” replicates, rather than displaces, the “modern” solution to the problem of the relationship between the individual and society.