Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2000 03:00:48 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: HAB: _Perspectives on Habermas_, Open Court Press, 2000


The "Library of Living Philosophers" series has a Habermas anthology
just published. 

_Perspectives on Habermas_, Lewis Edwin Hahn, ed. Open Court, 2000

Usually, publications in this series mostly include essays by the
philosopher's primary interlocuters, which serves as an honorific
critical challenge to the philosopher, to which he responds at some
length, offering in the process a circumspective re-statement of his
thought, as well as new perspectives on critical aspects of his work.


This anthology is different, perhaps importantly. It is comprised
mostly of readers who are not well-known readers of Habermas (if I'm
not mistaken)--though the anthology includes an essay by James
Bohman, Douglas Kellner, and David Ingram--and G. B. Madison and
Richard E. Palmer. Mostly, though, the anthology seems to represent a
new generation of readers--including the HAB list's Eduardo
Mendieta!, writing on Habermas linguistification of the sacred. It's
laudable that the anthology contains several readings by non-Anglo
scholars and by scholars outside philosophy of social science, e.g.,
from African-American studies and foundations of education. 

A quick perusal of the beginnings and conclusions of several of the
essays by authors that are new to me indicates that some of the
simplifications of Habermas in the 1970s and 1980s have been
replicated in these essays of 1999, such that Habermas might feel
less of a challenge to his work than to challenge the critic to read
Habermas' work more carefully. So, the difficulty of Habermas' work
continues for a new generation, with those few essays (I suppose)
that are not yet accurately reading Habermas. Some generosity on
Habermas' part toward a group of scholars honoring him would not have
been hoping for too much; it could be useful for many readers if
Habermas could have found a little time away from his more important
work to at least offer some constructive pointers toward his earlier
address of similar misunderstandings (inasmuch as misunderstanding of
his work are beneath him to dignify by any generosity of response).

So, it's unfortunate that Habermas cancelled his agreement to
participate in the anthology (according to the editor, after "eight
years". And it's disheartening to read this from Bill Martin (p.
421): "Although I still found his general framework, in the end [of
Habermas' lecture at Northwestern, honoring the 200th anniversay of
Kant's essay on perpetual peace], to be Eurocentric, I was still
hopeful about this development [i.e., Habermas' mention of Third
World issues, multicultural temporality, reference to "virtual
reality"]. On the other hand," Martin continues, "Habermas'
pronouncements on the NATO invasion of Yugoslavia, as well as his
unwillingness to engage in dialogue with critics in a volume of the
esteemed _Library of Living Philosophers_ (apparently," Martin
continues, "he was pushed in this direction on the advice of some of
his American followers, who worried that Habermas might run into some
'flamethrowers'--as one of these followers put it; in their view, I
most likely fall into that category myself, but I am in good company
there), do not bode well for an ethics of discourse." End of essay. 

Hmm. I wonder what the real story is here. 

Best regards,

Gary



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