Evolution or Progress? A (Critical) Defence of Habermas's Theory of Social Development

Abstract

Habermas's theory of social evolution has been subjected to critique by environmentally motivated sociologists. They argue that his decision to recast social theory in terms of an extended, if selective analogy with biology leads him into a set of practical positions that are irreconcilable with Green politics and inconsistent with the goals of traditional critical theory. This article argues that these criticisms are based on an inaccurate assessment of the role of evolutionary concepts in Habermas's thought. By drawing out the similarities between Habermas and Kant on the question of the relationship between history and natural history, it is possible to see that Habermas's use of evolutionary metaphors plays a regulative rather than a constitutive role in his thinking on society. This strategy does not save Habermas's position, but shows instead that it may be vulnerable to an immanent critique that pulls out the real underlying antagonisms in his system.

Keywords

environmentalism evolution Habermas history Kant

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adorno, T. W. and Horkheimer, M. (1986) Dialectic of Enlightenment, trans. J. Cumming. London: Verso.

Adorno, T. W. et al. (eds) (1976) The Positivist Dispute in German Sociology, trans. G. Adey and D. Frisby. London: Heinemann.

Baxter, H. (1987) `System and Lifeworld in Habermas's Theory of Communicative Action' Theory & Society 16(1): 37-80.

Berlin, I. (1939) Karl Marx. London: Thornton Butterworth.

Bottomore, T. and Nisbet, R. (eds) (1978) A History of Sociological Analysis. London: Heinemann.

Bury, J. D. (1920) The Idea of Progress. Londons: Dover Book.

Callinicos, A. (1995) Theories & Narratives. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Condorcet, Jean Antoine (1979[1795]) Sketch for a History of the Progress of the Human Mind. Westport, CT: Hyperion Press.

Eckersley, R. (1990) `Habermas and Green Political Thought: Two Roads Diverging', Theory and Society 19(6)

10.

Feyerabend, P. (1982) Against Method. London: Verso.

11.

Goldblatt, D. (1996) Social Theory and the Environment. Cambridge: Polity Press.

12.

Habermas, J. (1979a) `History and Evolution' Telos 39: 6-36.

13.

Habermas, J. (1979b) Legitimation Crisis, translated by T. McCarthy. Cambridge: Polity Press.

14.

Habermas, J. (1984) Communication and the Evolution of Society, trans. T. McCarthy. Cambridge: Polity Press.

15.

Habermas, J. (1987) Towards a Rational Society, trans. J. J. Shapiro. Cambridge: Polity Press.

16.

Habermas, J. (1990) The Theory of Communicative Action Volume 1: Reason and the Rationalisation of Society, introduction and trans. T. McCarthy. Cambridge: Polity Press.

17.

Habermas, J. (1992a) Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action, introduction by T. McCarthy, trans. Christian Lenhardt and Shierry Weber Nicholsen. Cambridge: Polity Press.

18.

Habermas, J. (1992b) The Theory of Communicative Action Volume 2: Lifeworld and System: A Critique of Functionalist Reason, trans. T. McCarthy. Cambridge: Polity Press.

19.

Harvey, D. and Read, M. (1991) `The Limits of Synthesis: Some Comments on Habermas's Recent Sociological Writings', International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society 4(3): 328-356.

20.

Held, D. and Thompson, J. B. (eds) (1982) Habermas: Critical Debates. London: Macmillan.

21.

Johnson, J. (1991) `Habermas on Strategic and Communicative Action', Political Theory 19(2): 181-196.

22.

Joravsky, D. (1970) The Lysenko Affair. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

23.

Kant, I. (1991) Political Writings, ed. H. Reiss . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

24.

Kant, I. (1992[1781]) Critique of Pure Reason, trans. N. Kemp-Smith. London: Macmillan.

25.

Kirkpatrick, G. (1997) `Review of Callinicos's “Theories and Narratives” ', Economy & Society 26(2).

26.

Kunneman, H. (1990) `Some Critical Remarks on Habermas's Analysis of Science and Technology', Theory, Culture & Society 7(4): 116-125.

27.

Lakatos, I. and Musgrave, A. (1970) Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

28.

Lecourt, D. (1977) Proletarian Science? London: New Left Books.

29.

Meek, R. (ed.) (1973) Turgot on Progress, Sociology and Economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

30.

Misgeld, D. (1981) `Habermas's Retreat from Hermeneutics: Systems Integration, Social Integration and the Crisis of Legitimation', Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory 5(1-2): 9-38.

31.

Mouzelis, N. (1992) `Social and System Integration: Habermas's View', British Journal of Sociology 43(2): 268-286.

32.

Pilot, H. (1976) `Jurgen Habermas's Empirically Falsifiable Philosophy of History', in T. W. Adorno et al. (eds) The Positivist Dispute in German Sociology. London: Heinemann.

33.

Styrdom, P. (1992) `The Ontogenetic Fallacy: The Immanent Critique of Habermas's Developmental Logical Theory of Evolution', Theory, Culture & Society 9(3): 66-90.

34.

Yearly, S. (1996) Sociology, Environmentalism, Globalization: Reinventing the Globe. London: Sage.