2026/04/10 by Heine Andersen · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Critical Realism in Sociology #Critical Theory and Philosophy #Philosophical and Historical Studies
paper · doi:10.1177/00016993261440724
openalex publication_date 2026/04/10 · openalex created_date 2026/04/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/03
Jürgen Habermas has passed away on 14 March 2026. Habermas was the leading figure in the Frankfurt School's second generation for several decades, leaving behind a legacy that has had an impact across a wide field in social sciences and humanities. What will be remembered most are Habermas’ defense of enlightened democracy, the ideal of public sphere as a room for the free argumentative dialogue, and the “uncoercive force of the better argument.” Habermas succeeded in what earlier members of the Frankfurt School and critical theory failed to achieve: to formulate an explicitly normatively oriented social critical theory, and from there to build a bridge to a larger enlightened public audience.