Jürgen Habermas’s Post-Secular History of Philosophy

In This too a History of Philosophy (2019) Habermas observes that in the history of modern thought, metaphysical approaches are increasingly redundant; they are losing their ability to determine supra-historical principles, which constitute the foundation of the common good. He believes that a metaphysical interest in existential and ethical matters can only be of a personal nature. In what he calls the ‘post-secular era’, Habermas wants to embed religious communities in a secular conversation. It is not religion that is criticized by Habermas, but the last remnants of philosophical metaphysics that are visible in the German tradition of thought. This article argues that Habermas comes to conclusions which abandon truth orientation in philosophical metaphysics. Habermas paints a picture of the philosophical tradition in which it comes to the realization that transcendental forms of thought cannot offer strong arguments anymore. This article tries to briefly present an alternative picture of philosophy that does not identify with such a post-metaphysical interpretation. It is argued that religious intuitions can only be translated into secular language and taken seriously if this ambition of a philosophical metaphysics to express valid claims about ethical and existential questions is not abandoned

Conversation · Epistemology · Existentialism · Interpretation (philosophy · Metaphysics · Transcendental number · Transcendental philosophy · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Philosophy · Religion, Ecology, and Ethics · Theology and Philosophy of Evil