Role of Philosophy Today (Tribute to Habermas)

A few days ago the German philosopher Jurgen Habermas (1929-2026) passed away. He is considered among the greatest philosophers and public intellectuals of the 20th century.

In the spirit of keeping the spirit of Habermas's legacy alive, I invite group members to watch the video below on the role of the philosopher in the contemporary world.

# Habermas on philosophy's roles in contemporary society

You don't need to know any details about Habermas's work to attend this meetup (limited to 10 for space in the room). Just watch the video above and come along with some questions and insights we can discuss about the value of philosophy and the challenges of keeping the spirt of the philosophical temperament alive in the contemporary world.

I have engaged with Habermas's work at various stages of my academic career, and wrote some reflections about him on my blog here if anyone is interested.

Hope to see some of you there.

** UPDATED SUMMARY**

A summary of points from the video:

In the past philosophy was considered to be the most important discipline. But with the rise of the sciences (e.g. physics) and specialized social sciences and humanities subjects (like anthropology and psychology), the value and function of philosophy is uncertain.

In the 18th century Kant detailed two roles for philosophy: “the usher” and “the judge”.

The Usher: philosophy provides the foundation of the sciences, defining the limits of what can and cannot be experienced. Philosophy, like a movie usher, show the sciences to their proper seat (e.g. front row or seat in the corner of the back row!).

The Judge: philosophy decides the boundaries of different disciplines (e.g. biology). It thus parcels out the jurisdiction of knowledge that belongs to science vs arts.

Richard Rorty maintains that philosophy should give up being the guardian of rationality all together. But Habermas rejects this.

There have been three “farewells” to philosophy:

Therapeutic Farewell: philosophy is sick because it focuses on abstract metaphysical questions that don’t matter to most people’s real lives.

The Heroic Farewell: a deconstruction of metaphysics must take place, a dismantling of philosophy at the foundational level.

The Salvaging Farewell: philosophy should be though of as a historical study, not something that is relevant to the present day. Thus we should strive to preserve it as a body of text but recognize that it doesn’t really contribute to knowledge today.

Habermas does not endorse of the above. He believes philosophy has a key role to play today, but not as usher or judge. Instead, the sole criterion to use for judging believes is the space of communicative discourse, the space where truth can emerge. And thus there is no gap between science and philosophy. This suggests there are two roles for philosophy to take on: Stand-in and interpreter.

Stand-in: philosophy is a “place holder”, which means it can be a stand-in for those empirical sciences that haven’t been able to yet defend their broad claims. For example the concept of atoms and details quantum physics.

Interpreter: Philosophy can be thought of as the interpreter for the “lifeworld”- our collective existence that science is often ill-equipped to encapsulate. Philosophy can translate between the everyday of lifeworld and different specialized disciplines (like physics and anthropology).

These insights suggests that philosophy’s value is in being a good communicator.

What are your thoughts on this topic?

What do you think is the value and function of philosophy? Are there any areas of your own life where you would seek of insights from philosophy for knowledge or practical guidance? On ethics, political philosophy, art, religion, meaning and purpose? When you think of public intellectuals you admire or see as a force for good in public debate, what is it about them that leads you for form such an opinion? Are they philosophical or non-philosophical? For me, Habermas and Steven Pinker would be on the list, but I struggle to think of many others.

Cheers,
Colin

PS- please note the library opens at 11am. Our room is on the same level as the entrance. You go through the front doors pass the library security and then turn left and walk down the hallway to the end (just past the bathrooms).