Frankfurt. The German philosopher and sociologist Jürgen Habermas will turn 95 next Tuesday; However, he is still far from retirement.
He’s always working on something
said Romam Yos, who worked with Habermas biographer Stefan Müller-Doohm on a volume of interviews for the German publisher Suhrkamp.
Yo pointed out to the Dpa that he sees it very alive, very alert, mentally focused
. However, according to his editorial, Habermas no longer gives interviews.
That does not mean that the thinker is mute. He no longer plans a monumental work like his book A history of philosophy1,775 pages, published in 2019. However, time and again he writes essays for large newspapers or scientific publications on current affairs.
The coronavirus pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East have kept him busy in recent years. You can’t not think politically
said Yos, who teaches at the chair of Philosophy of Culture in the German city of Wuppertal. That the name Habermas is familiar to so many people has to do with the fact that there are two Habermas: the philosopher, whose academic work can seem loaded with budgets and difficult to understand
for the layman, as Yos says, and the intellectual who intervenes in current public debates.
Of course, his statements are long argued and cannot be reduced to a headline. He knows that this also exposes him to criticism, but at some point even he wants it. After all, debate, the exchange of arguments and the struggle for understanding are some of his central themes, even as a philosopher.
Yo maintains that he is in surprisingly good health for his age. His wife, almost the same age, is still alive, although they recently lost one of her three children. For decades, Habermas, born on June 18, 1929 in Düsseldorf, has lived on Lake Starnberg, although his work is mainly associated with Frankfurt, where he was a research assistant to Max Horkheimer from 1956 and took up his professorship in 1964. The dizzying pace of social media, the aggressive culture of debate, the advance of authoritarian forces… all of this must seem foreign to you, probably even repulsive, although Habermas unwaveringly believes in the concept of reason, according to Yos. There is no alternative for him
he indicated.
About to turn 95, it can be said that Habermas has had a most fruitful life. His most important writings, History and criticism of public opinion (1962) y Theory of Communicative Action (1981), are as influential as they are ambitious. Yo assures that in areas where the German language is not spoken, Habermas remains one of the most important German thinkers.