The Critique of Postmetaphysical Thinking

Habermas and the History of Philosophy, Volume III
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-032-97386-9
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 346 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 453 g

Reihe: Antinomies

Simon Susen’s trilogy offers a systematic account of Jürgen Habermas’s Also a History of Philosophy. It provides a comprehensive overview of the central issues at stake in this magnum opus and, crucially, assesses its most significant limitations and shortcomings.

Susen shows how Habermas’s approach to the history of philosophy seeks to reconstruct the genealogy of postmetaphysical thinking by tracing the tension-laden relationship between faith and knowledge back to the major developments brought about during the Axial Age. The trilogy examines how Habermas’s latest project invites us to reconsider not only classical antinomies – such as faith vs. knowledge, the sacred vs. the profane, religion vs. science – but also the role of philosophy in the twenty-first century, particularly with regard to its capacity to overcome the tension between ‘ideologization’ [Verweltanschaulichung] and ‘scientization’ [Verwissenschaftlichung]. This endeavour, Susen argues, sheds light on the extent to which the emancipatory potential of rational freedom, far from being reducible to a mere product of the Enlightenment, has been present throughout human history – most notably in the processes of ‘the linguistification of the sacred’ in advanced civilizations during the first millennium BCE. Informed by a meticulous analysis of the Epilogue to the original German-language edition – which contains valuable insights into Habermas’s retrospective reflections on his main arguments and engages with the reception of his ambitious theoretical enterprise – this definitive trilogy serves as an essential guide to one of Habermas’s seminal works.

The third volume, The Critique of Postmetaphysical Thinking, presents a set of critical reflections on Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie and provides a rigorous assessment of Habermas’s endeavour.

This trilogy is for all those in the social sciences and humanities studying and researching classical and contemporary social theory, the sociology of knowledge, the sociology of religion, political sociology, cultural sociology, social and political philosophy, epistemology, the philosophy of religion, the philosophy of history, the philosophy of language, and the history of social and political thought.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Susen, Simon

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein Gesellschaftstheorie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Erkenntnistheorie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Moderne Philosophische Disziplinen Pragmatismus

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Critical Reflections 1. ‘World’ and ‘Reality’ 2. Experience and Reason 3. Positivism and Interpretivism 4. Direct Access and Indirect Access 5. Demographics 6. Rationalism 7. Socio-Ontological Optimism 8. The Power of Dominant Ideologies 9. Dichotomies 10. Ethnocentrism 11. Modernity 12. Evolutionism 13. Ordinary vs. Scientific? 14. Crisis as a Source of Emancipation 15. Religion, Philosophy, and the World 16. Reason, Power, and Society 17. Between Behavioural, Ideological, and Institutional Developments 18. The Concept of ‘Humanity’ 19. Language 20. Labour 21. Worlds 22. Science 23. The Public Sphere 24. Kant vs. Hume 25. Habermas with or without Bourdieu? 26. Minorities vs. Majorities 27. Constitutional Patriotism 28. Democracy and Capitalism 29. Naïve Cosmopolitanism? 30. Knowledge and Faith 31. World Pictures [Weltbilder] or Worldviews [Weltanschauungen]? 32. Religion: Definitions, Typologies, and Functions

Über Autor(innen)

Simon Susen is Professor of Sociology at City St George’s, University of London. He is Associate Member of the Bauman Institute and, together with Bryan S. Turner, Editor of the Journal of Classical Sociology.