After reading the Kellner article i come away with one concensus about Habermas, "why can't he talk more simply for us simpletons". However i did come away with some good points that i think are valid and worth mentioning here.
First I liked when he touched on history when he talked about the intervention of newspapers and political clubs. ". For the first time in history, individuals and groups could shape public opinion, giving direct expression to their needs and interests while influencing political practice". I think this is an essential point because what type of society are we if we are not allowed to express our own views in a constructive manner. If we are "suppressed" (in the words of the Monty Python sketch) than we are like puppets following the order of a slave master who allows for his people to follow him or die. Last time I checked those lists of choices pretty much sucked.
I thought Habermas' best point was showing how the big economic corporations were controlling society today to the point were we are just puppets on a string. Buying what ever they say we must buy, and giving into their demands with out standing up. Habermas thinks we should stand up out of the suppression in order to look into the mirror and realize that we are actually human beings and are capable of constructing our own ideas and thoughts. Not only can we construct these ideas, but it is vital that these ideas are expressed because without expressing our ideas about the world and were it is going, life is meaningless. Habermas I think would argue life is not worth living because society is runnung on a treadmil and going backwards in progression, instead of forwards.
First I liked when he touched on history when he talked about the intervention of newspapers and political clubs. ". For the first time in history, individuals and groups could shape public opinion, giving direct expression to their needs and interests while influencing political practice". I think this is an essential point because what type of society are we if we are not allowed to express our own views in a constructive manner. If we are "suppressed" (in the words of the Monty Python sketch) than we are like puppets following the order of a slave master who allows for his people to follow him or die. Last time I checked those lists of choices pretty much sucked.
I thought Habermas' best point was showing how the big economic corporations were controlling society today to the point were we are just puppets on a string. Buying what ever they say we must buy, and giving into their demands with out standing up. Habermas thinks we should stand up out of the suppression in order to look into the mirror and realize that we are actually human beings and are capable of constructing our own ideas and thoughts. Not only can we construct these ideas, but it is vital that these ideas are expressed because without expressing our ideas about the world and were it is going, life is meaningless. Habermas I think would argue life is not worth living because society is runnung on a treadmil and going backwards in progression, instead of forwards.
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