Between naturalism and religion : philosophical essays / by Jürgen Habermas ; translated by Ciaran Cronin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Habermas, Jürgen

Standardized Title:

Zwischen Naturalismus und Religion. English

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Naturalism.

Naturalism--Religious aspects.

Science--Philosophy.

Science.

Religion and science.

Physical Description:

vi, 361 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; Malden, MA : Polity, 2008.

Language Note:

Translated from the German.

Summary:

Two countervailing trends mark the intellectual tenor of our age - the spread of naturalistic worldviews and the revival of religious orthodoxies. Advances in biogenetics, brain research, and robotics are preparing the ground for the entry of an objective scientific self-understanding of persons into everyday life. This trend is associated for philosophy with the challenge of scientific naturalism. At the same time, we are witnessing an unexpected revitalization of religious traditions and the politicization of religious communities across the world. For philosophy, this revival of religious energies poses the challenge of a fundamentalist critique of the principles underlying the modern West's interpretation of itself in post-metaphysical terms.

The tension between naturalism and religion is the central theme of this major new book by Jurgen Habermas. On the one hand, he defends a naturalistic understanding of cultural evolution that seeks to do justice to the normative character of the human mind. At the same time, he calls for an appropriate interpretation of the secularizing effects of a process of social and cultural rationalization increasingly denounced by the champions of religious orthodoxies as a historical development peculiar to the West. His reflections on the enduring importance of religion and the limits of secularism under conditions of post-metaphysical reason set the scene for an extended treatment of the political importance of religious tolerance and for a further major contribution to debates on cosmopolitanism and a constitution for international society.

Contents:

Part I The Intersubjective Constitution of Norm-governed Thought 9

1 Public Space and Political Public Sphere - The Biographical Roots of Two Motifs in my Thought 11

2 Communicative Action and the Detranscendentalized "Use of Reason" 24

3 On the Architectonics of Discursive Differentiation: A Brief Response to a Major Controversy 77

Part II Religious Pluralism and Civic Solidarity 99

4 Prepolitical Foundations of the Constitutional State? 101

5 Religion in the Public Sphere: Cognitive Presuppositions for the "Public Use of Reason" by Religious and Secular Citizens 114

Part III Naturalism and Religion 149

6 Freedom and Determinism 151

7 "I Myself am Part of Nature" - Adorno on the Intrication of Reason in Nature: Reflections on the Relation between Freedom and Unavailability 181

8 The Boundary between Faith and Knowledge: On the Reception and Contemporary Importance of Kant's Philosophy of Religion 209

Part IV Tolerance 249

9 Religious Tolerance as Pacemaker for Cultural Rights 251

10 Equal Treatment of Cultures and the Limits of Postmodern Liberalism 271

11 A Political Constitution for the Pluralist World Society? 312.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0745638244

9780745638249

0745638252

9780745638256

OCLC:

191245301