Knowledge and Human Interests

For those concerned with the relationships between thought and action, Knowledge and Human Interests will quickly be recognized as a brilliant book -- and a bold outline for a new social theory. " this book is rich in suggestions for a new theory of knowledge that would take into account the 'interest' of humanity in non-repressive and non-distorting commmunication, or free and equal interaction as the implicit horizon of knowledge ." -- Mark Poster " It is not altogether easy to assess the work of a scholar whose professional competence extends from the logic of science to the sociology of knowledge, by way of Marx, Hegel, and the more recondite sources of the European metaphysical tradition.The baffling thing about Habermas is that, at an age when most of his colleagues had painfully established control over one corner of the field, he has made himself the master of the whole, in depth and breadth alike ." -- Times Literary Supplement Preface -- Translator's Note -- Pt. 1. The Crisis Of The Critique Of Knowledge -- 1. Hegel's Critique Of Kant : Radicalization Or Abolition Of The Theory Of Knowledge -- 2. Marx's Metacritique Of Hegel : Synthesis Through Social Labor -- 3. The Idea Of The Theory Of Knowledge As Social Theory -- Pt. 2. Positivism, Pragmatism, Historicism -- 4. Comte And Mach : The Intention Of Early Positivism -- 5. Peirce's Logic Of Inquiry : The Dilemma Of A Scholastic Realism Restored By The Logic Of Language -- 6. The Self-reflection Of The Natural Sciences : The Pragmatist Critique Of Meaning -- 7. Dilthey's Theory Of Understanding Expression : Ego Identity And Linguistic Communication -- 8. The Self-reflection Of The Cultural Sciences : The Historicist Critique Of Meaning -- Pt. 3. Critique As The Unity Of Knowledge And Interest -- 9. Reason And Interest : Retrospect On Kant And Fichte -- 10. Self-reflection As Science : Freud's Psychoanalytic Critique Of Meaning -- 11. The Scientistic Self-misunderstanding Of Metapsychology : On The Logic Of General Interpretation -- 12. Psychoanalysis And Social Theory : Nietzsche's Reduction Of Cognitive Interests -- Appendix : Knowledge And Human Interests : A General Perspective -- Index. Translated By Jeremy J. Shapiro. Translation Of Erkenntnis Und Interesse. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. **Knowledge and Human Interests** (German: *Erkenntnis und Interesse*) is a 1968 book by the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, in which the author discusses the development of the modern natural and human sciences. He criticizes Sigmund Freud, arguing that psychoanalysis is a branch of the humanities rather than a science, and provides a critique of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Habermas's first major systematic work, *Knowledge and Human Interests* has been compared to the philosopher Paul Ricœur’s *Freud and Philosophy* (1965). It received positive reviews, which identified it as forming part of an important body of work. However, critics have found Habermas's attempt to discuss the relationship between knowledge and human interests unsatisfactory, and his work obscure in style. Some commentators have found his discussion of Freud valuable, while others have questioned his conclusions. (Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_and_Human_Interests)) "Habermas describes Knowledge and Human Interests as an attempt to reconstruct the prehistory of modern positivism with the intention of analysing the connections between knowledge and human interests. Convinced of the increasing historical and social importance of the natural and behavioural sciences, Habermas makes clear how crucial it is to understand the central meanings and justifications of these sciences. He argues that for too long the relationship between philosophy and science has been distorted. In this extraordinarily wide-ranging book, Habermas examines the principal positions of modern philosophy - Kantianism, Marxism, positivism, pragmatism, hermeneutics, the philosophy of science, linguistic philosophy and phenomenology - to lay bare the structure of the processes of enquiry that determine the meaning and the validity of all our statements which claim objectivity."--Publisher web site Drawing upon the theories of leading philosophers, the author explores the relationship between thought and action