Toronto and Habermas

[barrytron3030]

This is a shot in the dark, but is anyone on this forum interested or well-versed in the philosophical work of Jurgen Habermas? I've been studying his work heavily and would love to discuss how his work can be applied to Toronto's current political climate. Particular attention, in this thread at least, would be afforded to his work concerning the public realm, legitimation, and communicative action. Is anyone interested?

 

[Strange Advance]

My dad taught political theory, and one of his primary specialties was Habermas (he even translated one of his books), but I don't know anything about it myself.

 

[barrytron3030]

i don't blame you or anyone for not reading him! he's intensely difficult and has driven me to tears.

 

[Strange Advance]

Yes, the entire discipline is often impenetrably abstruse, but, frankly, I am not sufficiently interested in the subject to give my dad's books more than a cursory glance. I'm sure part of that disinclination stems from the off-putting inaccessibility.

 

[Silence&Motion]

Interesting you should bring this up. I've been thinking about whether or not Habermas might help us to understand the success of OCAD and the AGO's expansions relative to the ROM. Both OCAD and the AGO undertook extensive public consultation sessions that sort of created a public sphere. There are many design features in both buildings that are the result of open public debate between private citizens. The ROM's design, on the other hand, was pushed through as the work of a single individual who refused to compromise.

Anyway, I can't claim to be that familiar with most of Habermas's work. I've only read the Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere.