Habermas and the Discourse of Modernity

In this book, the author tries to address one of the central concerns in contemporary philosophy and critical social theory i.e. the issue of modernity. The book tries to provide both an exposition of Habermas’s modernity as developed in The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity and other principal works like the two volumes Theory of communicative action and the Postnational Constellation; and also tries to offer a critical stance towards such an attempt. The author argues that even though Habermas succeeded in developing a model of rationality that goes beyond the confines of metaphysical thinking, emphasizes responsibility and emancipation and also demonstrates the role of modernity as a platform for today’s problems; still this must be coupled with an analysis that demonstrates the positive role of the aesthetic, the religious dimension of human life, the equal participation of non western identities in the discourse of modernity, the other ‘darker’ sides of modernity and the positive inputs of postmodernism. This book will be of great interest to those interested in Habermas’s philosophy in areas of modernity, postmodernism, and critical social theory.