Blumenberg and Habermas on Political Myths

Bibliographic Data

ID6351589
AuthorsTae-Yeoun Keum (0000-0002-4996-2724, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume53
Issue1
Pages3-33
Publication date2025-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0090-5917 • E-ISSN: 1552-7476
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00905917241288497
OpenAlexW4404340810
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited60

Myths—symbolically dense narratives in wide cultural circulation that resist critical scrutiny—are often thought to be counterproductive to political discourse, but they are also ubiquitous in contemporary culture and society. Just two years apart, Jürgen Habermas and Hans Blumenberg developed contrasting visions of how we ought to respond to the myths in our society. By reconstructing their disagreement, this paper uncovers the distinctive challenge of balancing a commitment to political emancipation with the opacity of myths to critical reason. I argue for an alternative approach to myths than those in the theoretical mainstream, taking Blumenberg’s relatively neglected position as a starting point. Blumenberg invites us to pay closer attention to the cognitive needs that necessitate the generation of myths while simultaneously reminding us of our own creative agency to reinvent them

Epistemology · Mythology · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Theology · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Humanities and Social Sciences · Law · Philosophy · Psychoanalysis and Social Critique