Vale Jürgen Habermas
The philosopher Jürgen Habermas died last Saturday. He was a strong defender of Enlightenment values, and a strong critic of postmodernism – the quasi-philosophical movement initially adopted by the left, and now by the populist right, that rejects any notion of objective truth.
To Habermas a crucial institution in a civilized country is the public sphere. That is the shared space, independent of government, in which ctizens can come together to learn from one another, to debate, to argue, with respect for one another and above all respect for reason and the truth.
Writing on the Engelsberg Ideas website, Johannes Chountis de Fabbri has an account of Habermas's life and an account of his contribution to the world of public ideas: Jürgen Habermas’ lost world: the coffee-house and the public sphere.
