We're reading: Habermas's "The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article"

For the first meetup I thought we'd read Habermas's The Public Sphere which seems (from my shallow research) to be at least somewhat relevant.

Meeting will be in the basement of The Commercial bar on Catherine Street. If you need help finding the essay send me a message.

Description:
In this article Jürgen Habermas, Sara Lennox, and Frank Lennox attempt to examine the notions of Habermas's thesis, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere focusing on the development of the public sphere today. The article begins by demonstrating the idea of a public sphere, referring to it as a “concept” in which private individuals assemble to form a public body in an “unrestricted fashion”. According to Habermas, the public sphere itself is to derive from democracy. He highlights the importance of the freedom to assemble and to express opinions in an inclusive manner. The opinions on matters of general interest from a large public body require a vehicle of transmission in order to supply information and enable the possibility for societal influence. He determines that the modern means for this transmission are through media such as newspapers, magazines, television, and radio.