J?rgen Habermas: Public Intellectual and Engaged Critical Theorist (New Directions in Critical Theory)

Verov?ek, Peter J.

ISBN 10: 0231213034 / ISBN 13: 9780231213035

Published by Columbia University Press, 2026

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 408225574

Bibliographic Details

• Title: J?rgen Habermas: Public Intellectual and Engaged Critical Theorist (New Directions in Critical Theory)
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0231213034
• ISBN 13: 9780231213035
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Jürgen Habermas is Germany’s most important postwar philosopher, the leading figure of the Frankfurt School in this period. He is best known for the concept of the public sphere, which forms the basis of his communicative understanding of democratic politics. Habermas has not only theorized the public sphere―he has also taken part in it through frequent commentary on current social, political, and cultural issues. Yet since Habermas’s extensive public-facing writings have been overlooked, his philosophy has often been criticized as apolitical.

This book transforms our understanding of Habermas by focusing on his work as a public intellectual, showing how he has shaped debates far beyond the ivory tower. Peter J. Verovšek argues that while Habermas maintains a strict separation between his academic and his public-facing writings, he has also ensured that these two aspects of his work are part of a consistent whole. The book highlights the development of Habermas’s views over time and the changing nature of his public interventions. His early political writings focused on questions tied to the particular situation of postwar West Germany, but since 1989 he has increasingly turned his attention to the future of Europe and global politics more broadly. Verovšek sheds light on the interrelationship between Habermas’s participation in the public sphere and his theoretical work, demonstrating that his political engagement is crucial to understanding his philosophy. In a moment when public debate is under threat, this book offers timely new insight into Habermas’s lifelong project of defending the public sphere―both in theory and in practice.

About the Author

Peter J. Verovšek is senior assistant professor in history and theory of European integration at the University of Groningen. He is the author of Memory and the Future of Europe: Rupture and Integration in the Wake of Total War (2020).