كليدواژه :
communication theory of society , normative groundwork , psychology of research , Practice , reconstructionist science , Habermas
چكيده لاتين :
In this paper, I analyze Habermas’s reconstruction of critical theory of
society and the need for a theory of communicative action. Here, three major
themes have guided my approach. First, I have tried to define a structure
within which Habermas’s project to reconstruct a normative groundwork for
a critical theory of society can be evaluated. Second, I show that Habermas
constructs an apparent difference between “action oriented to reaching
understanding” and “action oriented to success” in order to develop his
next argument, which places communicative actions as the original system of
integration for the modern social order. Third, I evaluated Habermas’s
conception of critical theory in relation to its own criteria: that is, practice.
Here, three major points has been taken into account simultaneously. The
first point is Habermas’s intention. For Habermas, the relation between
theory and practice is not artificial, since theory only has a mediated access
to practice by contributing to practical discourse and reflection. This is why
Habermas speaks of “the idea of a theory of society conceived with a
practical intention.”The second point is Habermas’s theoretical approach to
the problem of practice. Habermas argues that a critical theory, instead of
trying to direct political action, should offer knowledge from which
participants in a discourse can draw to help them reaching an
understanding about their common situation. The third point is the sociohistorical
background of Habermas’s critical theory, or what Habermas
describes as his “psychology of research,” that is to bring back confidence
to the emancipatory potential of Occidental rationalism.
