Jürgen Habermas - Eine Biographie

by Stefan Müller-Doohm

»Jürgen Habermas«, so schrieb der US-amerikanische Philosoph Ronald Dworkin anlässlich des 80. Geburtstags des großen europäischen Denkers, »ist nicht nur der berühmteste lebende Philosoph der Welt. Sein Ruhm selbst ist berühmt.« Nach mehrjährigen Forschungen, intensiver Recherche und ausführlichen Gesprächen mit Weggefährten, Zeitzeugen sowie mit Habermas selbst legt Stefan Müller-Doohm nun die erste umfassende Biographie des bedeutendsten Intellektuellen unserer Zeit vor. Sie beleuchtet sowohl das Zusammenspiel von philosophischer Reflexion und intellektueller Intervention als auch das Wechselverhältnis von Lebens- und Werkgeschichte vor dem Hintergrund historischer Ereignisse.

Deutlich wird so das Bild eines einzigartigen Denkers, zu dessen wichtigsten philosophischen Errungenschaften eine Theorie verständigungsorientierten Handelns gehört, der aber dann, wenn er den Eindruck gewinnt, dass die Gesellschaft hinter ihren Möglichkeiten zur Gestaltung freier und gerechter Lebensverhältnisse zurückbleibt, zum unnachgiebigen Kritiker wird.

»Jürgen Habermas bleibt das leuchtende Beispiel eines Mannes, der die Rolle des Bürgers und die des Philosophen in überragender Weise vereint.« Charles Taylor

Genres: Biography, Philosophy, Sociology

784 pages, Hardcover

First published June 16, 2014

Reviews

[Turbulent_Architect · Rating 3 out of 5]

Habermas once quipped that "in general the life of a philosopher is rather poor in external events.” Well, that quote might as well have been the book's epigraph. Sure, his life contained some interesting episodes. His involvement with the student riots of the 1960s stands out here. But for the most part, his Müller-Doohm's biography of him reads like a list of academic achievements: Of degrees, publications, appointments, grants, awards, speeches, conferences, debates, and editorials. To give credit where credit is due, the book is staggeringly well researched. But it gives us very little insight into Habermas himself. Whatever insight it does give is into his qualities as an intellectual, with only fleeting glances at Habermas the man.

[Justin Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jürgen Habermas is one of the most prolific authors of the last hundred years, and has just recently added a two-volume history of western philosophy to his tally. It is a shame that Stefan Müller-Doohm’s biography was published before Habermas’s Auch Eine Geschichte der Philosophie, but such is Habermas’ productivity that any book written about him is likely to be slightly outdated by its publication. Indeed, he may well have published another book by the time we get half-way through this review.

Müller-Doohm’s biography will remain valuable regardless. He brings to the task great skill as an historian of critical theory and as a writer: he studied with Adorno and Horkheimer and wrote a biography of the former. Müller-Doohm’s Habermas is well organized and clear, as well as extremely well researched. Müller-Doohm does not offer full or extensive analyses of Habermas’ ideas, but that is not the task of a biography, which should put those ideas in historical and personal context. At this, Müller-Doohm succeeds admirably. Habermas appears here in the lights of post-war German history, of his own extensive, idiosyncratic philosophical reading, and of the professional structures that he navigates so successfully.

See the full review here: https://marxandphilosophy.org.uk/revi...