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The Critical Theory of Jurgen Habermas THE CRITICAL THEORY OF JÜRGEN HABERMAS GOVT/ GERM 6765 Fall 2013. Department of Government. Cornell University. Instructor: Prof. Alexander Livingston Meeting Time: Wednesday 4:30-6:30 Email: [email protected] Meeting Room: White Hall B06 Office Hours: Mondays 3-5 Office: White Hall 215 COURSE DESCRIPTION: This seminar is an intensive study of the most influential writings of the critical theorist Jürgen Habermas. At once a social theorist, a philosopher of language, and a scholar of legal and political theory, Habermas has made a lasting impact on our understanding of rationality, legitimacy, the public sphere, and democracy over the course of his fifty-year career. Beginning with his 1962 Structural Transformations of the Public Sphere, this seminar will focus on three distinct periods of Habermas’s thought. The first three weeks will be dedicated to understanding his early theory of the public sphere and the critical reactions it provoked. The second module will be devoted to a close study of his two most important works, The Theory of Communicative Action (1981) and Between Facts and Norms (1992). The third module will conclude with a study of contemporary debates in Habermasian political thought, and the development of his theory of communicative action in the areas of international law, democratic theory, and religion. *Although this course is cross-listed with German Studies, the seminar will be conducted in English. OBJECTIVES: At the end of this seminar students are expected to (a) be able to evaluate arguments from contemporary texts in political theory, (b) construct persuasive interpretations and applications of ideas and concepts discussed, (c) develop skills in synthesizing complex ideas for group and class presentation, (d) make substantial progress towards the breadth and depth requirements necessary for completing a field examination in political theory, (e) produce original works of scholarship of suitable sophistication and originality to be presented at a professional meeting and possibly further development into dissertation chapters or articles for publication. REQUIRED TEXTS: All required texts are available for purchase at the Cornell Store. Readings marked with an asterisk (*) are available as e-readings on the course Blackboard site. • Jürgen Habermas. Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 1991. • Jürgen Habermas. The Theory of Communicative Action. Volume 1: Reason and the Rationalization of Society. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. 1985. 1 • Jürgen Habermas. The Theory of Communicative Action. Volume 2: Lifeworld and System: A Critique of Functionalist Reason. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. 1985. • Jürgen Habermas. Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 1990. • Jürgen Habermas. Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 1996. COURSE ASSESSMENT: Grades: Your final grade will be calculated on the basis of your aggregate scores in participation, reading responses, and a final essay. Participation 15% Reading Responses 15% (x 3 = 45%) Final Essay 40% Participation: This is a seminar class. There will be no lectures and students are responsible for generating comments and questions to guide discussion. It is therefore expected that all students come prepared with questions related to the session’s readings, as well as a careful engagement with their fellow student’s reading responses, and have a point of view that demonstrates a strong command of, and sophisticated engagement with, the assigned texts. Merely being present in the classroom does not count towards this portion of your final grade. This means that while attendance is a necessary condition for participation, it is not a sufficient one. Reading Reponses: In the spirit of communicative action, each week two students will be responsible for raising validity claims concerning the assigned readings through a critical reading response they share with the group. Your response should offer a critical overview of the week’s readings and suggest points of discussion for the seminar. Each student will be responsible to discuss both the required readings and one of the supplemental readings for the week. Readings responses will be circulated electronically to the entire seminar on the Tuesday before we meet. • Each student is responsible for three reading responses over the course of the semester • Responses should be between 500-1000 words • Please circulate your response by email to the seminar email list no later than 11:59pm on the Tuesday before seminar. • After circulating your response, come to class prepared to speak for no more than five minutes about what you took to be the central problem/insight/criticism you dealt with in your entry and explain why. Do not simply read your reading response out loud to the class. A sign-up sheet will be circulated on the first day of seminar. Final Paper: A final paper on a topic of your choosing is due one week after the final day of class. This essay should be double spaced, 12pt font, with a length of approximately 7000-9000 words. Be sure to include page numbers on your essay. It is highly 2 recommended that students make an appointment to meet with me to discuss your paper topic sometime during the semester before sitting down to write it. Please submit a hardcopy of your paper in my mailbox in 214 White Hall. COURSE RULES AND POLICIES Auditors: Those who wish to ‘audit’ the class are most welcome. But they should be warned up front that ‘auditing’ mean ‘taking the class on a non-credit basis.’ It does not mean ‘sitting in,’ ‘listening,’ or ‘observing.’ There will be nothing to ‘observe’ in this class, and only active engaged seminar members may attend. If you want to audit the class, the requirements are simple: you must read both the assigned readings and the materials posted on the blog, participate in class discussions, and, at a minimum, take responsibility to post two blog entries over the course of the semester. Incompletes: Please do not ask for an incomplete. It is in your interest to finish this course in a timely manner. Late assignments: Because the course is organized on the premise that reading responses will be available to discuss in seminar, it is crucial that they be submitted in a timely manner. Late assignments will be penalized one-third of a letter grade per day late. This means that if your paper had been submitted on time and received a grade of A-, it will become a B+ after one day, a B after two, and so on. If you do not expect to be able to submit your work on the expected day, please get in touch with me before the deadline and we will discuss alternative arrangements. Blackboard.com: All course documents will be made available on Blackboard (blackboard.cornell.edu). If you are unfamiliar with how to access Blackboard please consult the Cornell Information Technology help website (bbhelp.cit.cornell.edu). Because important messages and updates concerning the course will be posted regularly on Blackboard, it is imperative that you enable your account to receive posted messages directly to your @cornell.edu email address. Office Hours and Communication: Office hours are Mondays from 3-5pm. I would much prefer if students contacting me in person rather than by email. If you must get in touch with me via email I will do my best to respond to you within 24 hours. Please know that I will not respond to emails after 6pm on evenings before class. A sign-up sheet will be posted on my door at 215 White Hall Plagiarism and Academic Ethics: Students should review Cornell University’s policy concerning plagiarism and violations of academic ethics (plagiarism.arts.cornell.edu). The strength of the university depends on academic and personal integrity. Ethical violations include cheating on exams, plagiarism, reuse of assignments, improper use of the Internet and electronic devices, unauthorized collaboration, alteration of graded assignments, forgery, falsification, lying, facilitation of academic dishonesty, and unfair competition. I have a zero tolerance policy towards plagiarism. All suspected cases of plagiarism will be passed on to the Academic Integrity liaison for disciplinary review. If 3 you are in doubt about whether you are committing plagiarism, feel free to ask me and I will be happy to help; but a good rule of thumb is that if you are wondering about this, you should cite a source. Accessibility Needs: If you have a condition that affects your ability to participate fully in class or to meet all course requirements, please speak with me after the first day of class so that we can work together to arrange appropriate accommodations. This syllabus and other course materials can be made available in alternate formats. Any student with a disability who may need accommodations in this class must obtain an accommodation letter from Student Disability Services, 420 CCC, Garden Ave Ext (sds.cornell.edu). COURSE SCHEDULE Week 1: Introduction (8/28) • Max Horkheimer, “Traditional and Critical Theory,” in Critical Theory: Selected Essays. London: Continuum Press. 1975. 188-243* • Habermas, “Public Space and Political Public Sphere – The Biographical Roots of Two Motifs in my Thought,” in Between Naturalism and Religion: Philosophical Essays. Malden, MA: Polity. 2008. 11-23* Week 2: The Rise of the Public Sphere (9/4) • Habermas, Structural Transformations, Chapters 1-4 Supplemental: • Nancy Fraser, “Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy,” in Habermas and the Public Sphere. Craig Calhoun, ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 1992. 109-142* Week 3: The Eclipse of the Public Sphere (9/11) • Habermas, Structural Transformations, Chapters 5-7 Supplemental: • Habermas, “Further Reflections on the Public Sphere,” in Habermas and the Public Sphere* Week 4. What is Modern Rationality? (9/18) • TCA 1, Preface & Chapter 1 Supplemental • Max Horkheimer and Theodore Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments.
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