Habermas’s Critical Theory of Society
By: Jane Braaten.
Series: SUNY series in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 1991-09
Place of publication: Albany, N.Y
Language: eng
Number of pages: 191
ISBN-13: 9780791407592; 9780791407608
Copyright date: 1991
Subjects: Habermas, Jürgen; Critical theory
Description: This book provides an understanding of the content and aims of Habermas’s critical theory of society — the theory that analyzes the causes of our cultural lack of direction, polical apathy, and the increasing complexity of modern society. The author offers a foothold on the current debates regarding the credibility and cogency of the theory.

Braaten presents Habermas’s defense of his critique of reason in his most recent work concerning the confrontation between postmodernists and neoconservatives, and modernists and liberal theorists. She also explores the possibility of applying Habermas’s critical resources in the United States in ways that he himself may not have considered.

(Source: [State University of New York Press](https://sunypress.edu/Books/H/Habermas-s-Critical-Theory-of-Society))
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-183) and index.
Table of contents: title: List of Abbreviations
pagenum: ix; title: Introduction
pagenum: 1; label: 1.
title: An Outline of Habermas's Critical Theory
pagenum: 9; label: 2.
title: A Consensus Theory of Truth and Knowledge
pagenum: 19; title: The Meaning of 'Truth"; title: A Problem; label: 3.
title: A Consensus Theory of Normative Validity
pagenum: 29; title: Discursive Will Formation and Need Interpretation; title: Generalizable Interests and the Principle of Univeralization; title: Justifying the Principle of Universalization; label: 4.
title: The Theory of Communicative Competence
pagenum: 51; title: Aesthetic-Expressive Rationality; title: Communicative Action and Communicative Rationality; title: Formal Pragmatics: An Overview; title: Does Communicative Competence Entail an Interest in Reaching Understanding; title: Communicative Rationality Again; label: 5.
title: The Critique of Societal Rationalization
pagenum: 75; title: The Lifeworld and the Method of Understanding; title: The System and Functional Explanation; title: The Critique of Modern Society; title: Methodological Issues; label: 6.
title: Two Challenges: Positivism and Postmodernism
pagenum: 105; title: Habermas and the Legacy of Positivism; title: The Defense of Modernism; label: 7.
title: Critical Applications of the Theory
pagenum: 141; title: The End of Public Debate: The Mass Media; title: The Politics of Need Interpretation and the Welfare System; title: Social Psychology as Social Ignorance: A Critical Approach to Social Psychology; title: Concluding Remarks; title: Notes
pagenum: 157; title: Bibliography
pagenum: 175; title: Index
pagenum: 185