The legacy of Habermas

Abstract

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.