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

Jürgen Habermas is well known for his scholarly works on the theoretical foundations of the human sciences. The New Conservatism brings to light another side of Habermas's talents, showing him as an incisive commentator on a wide range of contemporary themes. The 1980s have been a crucial decade in the political life of the Federal Republic of Germany. The transformations that accompanied a shift from 13 years of Social Democratic rule to government by the conservative Christian Democrats are captured in this series of insightful, often passionate political and cultural commentaries. The central theme uniting the essays is the German problem of "coming to terms with the past," a problem that has important implications outside Germany as well. Of particular note are the essays on what has come to be known as the Historians' Debate: Habermas's attack on the revisionist German historians who have been trying to trivialize and "normalize" the history of the Nazi period, and his defense of the need for a realistic and discriminating coining to terms with the past in Germany. Habermas also takes up the recent fracas concerning Martin Heidegger's involvement with Nazism and the rise of the neoconservative movement in Europe and America. In particular, the essay on "The New Obscurity" combines Habermas's analysis of the problems of the welfare state with his suggestions for avenues open to utopian impulses today. The New Conservatism is included in the series Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought, edited by Thomas McCarthy. Essays Discuss Denial Of Germany's Nazi Past, The Rise Of The Neoconservative Movement In Europe And America, And The Welfare State. 1. Neoconservatism -- Modern And Postmodern Architecture -- Neoconservative Cultural Criticism In The United States And West Germany -- 2. The New Obscurity: The Crisis Of The Welfare State And The Exhaustion Of Utopian Energies -- 3. Heinrich Heine And The Role Of The Intellectual In Germany -- 4. The Idea Of The University: Learning Processes -- 5. The Horrors Of Autonomy: Carl Schmitt In English -- 6. Work And Weltanschauung: The Heidegger Controversy From A German Perspective -- 7. Taking Aim At The Heart Of The Present: On Foucault's Lecture On Kant's What Is Enlightenment -- 8. 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 -- 9. A Kind Of Settling Of Damages -- Remarks From The Römerberg Colloquium -- Apologetic Tendencies -- On The Public Use Of History -- Closing Remarks -- 10. Historical Consciousness And Post-traditional Identity: The Federal Republic's Orientation To The West -- Index. Jürgen Habermas ; Edited And Translated By Shierry Weber Nicholsen ; Introduction By Richard Wolin. Essays And Interviews Previously Published In German, Many Of Which Were Taken From Habermas' Kleine Politische Schriften V And Vi, C1985, 1987. Includes Bibliographies And Index. A collection of Habermas' most recent writings. Issues discussed include the emergence of neoconservative ideology in Europe and the USA, the crisis of the welfare state, the relation of modernism and post-modernism and the significance of Foucault and his critique of the Enlightenment