Public Sphere and History: Historians’ Response to Habermas on the “Worth” of the Past

Abstract

This article deals with contested links between the public sphere and history. In particular, it presents a challenge faced by cultural, social, and political historians to use history in clarifying the Habermasian notion of the public sphere. According to the early theory of Jürgen Habermas, history is a necessary ingredient of theoretical conceptualization of the public sphere. Recent research into the history of the public sphere questioned some interpretations of facts on which Habermas based his early theory, but emerging historians’perspectives on the nexus between history and theory of the public sphere uncovered other problems. The role of history in building theories of the public sphere is one such issue. In his later work, Habermas evaded this problem. This article also addresses a third aspect of the problem, which is developed within the history of communication. From this perspective, the history of the public sphere appears much more diverse, dynamic, and ambiguous. According to this position, history appears instrumental in preserving the plurality of possibilities and alternative intellectual routes.