# Habermas Commentary/Books/TCA1

Page-by-page commentary on Jürgen Habermas, The Theory of Communicative Action, vol. 1: Reason and the Rationalization of Society copyright 1981 by Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main (Germany) translated by Thomas McCarthy published 1984 by Beacon Press (Boston)

## Introduction: Approaches to the Problem of Rationality

To enter the space reserved for detailed commentary pertaining to a page, click on the page number. A blue page number indicates the presence of detailed commentary for that page.
    Page Topics Addressed in Detailed Commentary 1 Introduction to Habermas's writing style. 2 3 Learning as an internally reconstructible sequence of stages of competence. 4 5 6 7

#### "Rationality" -- A Preliminary Specification

    Page Topics Addressed in Detailed Commentary 8 9 Objective judgment. 10 11 Distinction between realist and phenomenological approaches. 12 13 14 Intersubjective understanding. 15 Communicative rationality within a communication community. 16 17 Critique of Wittgenstein’s rules, as used by Habermas. 18 Argumentation vs. force. Strategic and communicative action. Grounding is interwoven with learning. 19 Redeeming validity claims. 20 Cultural values, norms of action, and claims to universality. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Warranted and unwarranted consensually achieved decisions. 36 37 38 39 40 Heuristic value of lower-level validity claims. 41 42

#### Some Characteristics of the Mythical and the Modern Ways of Understanding the World

    Page Topics Addressed in Detailed Commentary 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74

#### Relations to the World and Aspects of Rationality in Four Sociological Concepts of Action

    Page Topics Addressed in Detailed Commentary 75 76 77 Popper's third world. 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101

#### The Problem of Understanding Meaning in the Social Sciences

    Page Topics Addressed in Detailed Commentary 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142

## Max Weber's Theory of Rationalization

    Page Topics Addressed in Detailed Commentary 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156

#### Occidental Rationalism

    Page Topics Addressed in Detailed Commentary 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185

#### The Disenchantment of Religious-Metaphysical Worldviews and the Emergence of Modern Structures of Consciousness

    Page Topics Addressed in Detailed Commentary 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215

#### Modernization as Societal Rationalization: The Role of the Protestant Ethic

    Page Topics Addressed in Detailed Commentary 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242

#### The Rationalization of Law: Weber's Diagnosis of the Times

    Page Topics Addressed in Detailed Commentary 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272

## Intermediate Reflections: Social Action, Purposive Activity, and Communication

    Page Topics Addressed in Detailed Commentary 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338

## From Lukacs to Adorno: Rationalization as Reification

    Page Topics Addressed in Detailed Commentary 339 340 341 342 343 344

#### Max Weber in the Tradition of Western Marxism

    Page Topics Addressed in Detailed Commentary 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365

#### The Critique of Instrumental Reason

    Page Topics Addressed in Detailed Commentary 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402