The New Conservatism: Cultural Criticism and the Historians' Debate(Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought)

In this book, social theorist Jurgen Habermas provides political and cultural commentaries on contemporary German life. The central theme uniting the book is the German problem of "coming to terms with the past" - a problem with implications outside Germany as well. Topics covered include the debate over Martin Heidegger's ties to National Socialism, the rise of neoconservatism, and the avenues open to utopianism today. Of particular note are the essays on what has come to be known as "the Historians' Debate": Habermas' attack on the revisionist German historians who have been trying to trivialize and "normalize" the history of the Nazi period, and his defence of the need for a realistic assessment of Germany's past.

Table of Contents:
Neoconservatism - modern and postmodern architecture, neoconservative cultural criticism in the United States and West Germany; the new obscurity - the crisis of the welfare state and the exhaustion of utopian energies; Heinrich Heine and the role of the intellectual in Germany; the idea of the university - learning processes; the horrors of autonomy - Carl Schmitt in English; work and Weltanschauung - the Heidegger controversy from a German perspective; taking aim at the heart of the present - on Foucault's lecture on Kant's "What is Enlightenment?"; culture and politics - political culture in Germany since 1968 - an interview with Dr. Rainer Erd for the "Frankfurter Rundschau", the new intimacy between culture and politics - theses on enlightenment in Germany; a kind of settling of damages - remarks from the Roemerberg Colloquium, apologetic tendencies, on the public use of history, closing remarks; historical consciousness and post-traditional identity - the Federal Republic's orientation to the West.

About the Author :
Jurgen Habermas is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Frankfurt and Professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University. He was recently awarded the 2004 Kyoto Prize for Arts and Philosophy by the Inamori Foundation. The Kyoto Prize is an international award to honor those who have contributed significantly to the scientific, cultural, and spiritual betterment of mankind. Shierry Weber Nicholsen teaches environmental philosophy and psychology in Antioch University Seattle's M.A. Program on Environment and Community and is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice in Seattle. She has translated several works by Theodor Adorno and Jurgen Habermas.

Review :
"Incisively introduced by Richard Wolin, these essays, interviews, and speeches bring to American readers Habermas's views on national memory, political culture, Heidegger, Foucault, and the end of utopianism." Voice Literary Supplement