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THE GHOSTLY PROMISE OF ENLIGHTENMENT EUROPE: HABERMAS, DERRIDA AND THE PREDICAMENT OF THE WEST

THE GHOSTLY PROMISE OF ENLIGHTENMENT EUROPE: HABERMAS, DERRIDA AND THE PREDICAMENT OF THE WEST This paper begins by considering the concept of European modernity and claims made for it by Göran Therborn who argues, following Habermas, that it consists in learning to break from the prejudices of its religious past. From this starting point the paper explores the growing political differences between “Europe” and the “United States of America” reviewing the combined position of Habermas and Derrida in defining a “core” Europe against a neoconservative US. The argument of the paper, against Habermas and Derrida, is that it is too early and historically selfserving to place one’s hope in “the rebirth of Europe” and an Enlightenment attitude that releases us from immaturity of religious bigotry and ethnonationalism, especially in light of the Holocaust and the current encounter with Islam. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Review of Contemporary Philosophy Addleton Academic Publishers

THE GHOSTLY PROMISE OF ENLIGHTENMENT EUROPE: HABERMAS, DERRIDA AND THE PREDICAMENT OF THE WEST

MICHAEL A. PETERS
Review of Contemporary Philosophy , Volume 8 (1): 49-69 – Jan 1, 2009
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Publisher
Addleton Academic Publishers
Copyright
© 2009 Addleton Academic Publishers
ISSN
1841-5261
eISSN
2471-089X
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Abstract

This paper begins by considering the concept of European modernity and claims made for it by Göran Therborn who argues, following Habermas, that it consists in learning to break from the prejudices of its religious past. From this starting point the paper explores the growing political differences between “Europe” and the “United States of America” reviewing the combined position of Habermas and Derrida in defining a “core” Europe against a neoconservative US. The argument of the paper, against Habermas and Derrida, is that it is too early and historically selfserving to place one’s hope in “the rebirth of Europe” and an Enlightenment attitude that releases us from immaturity of religious bigotry and ethnonationalism, especially in light of the Holocaust and the current encounter with Islam.

Journal

Review of Contemporary Philosophy – Addleton Academic Publishers

Published: Jan 1, 2009

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