Tag: Habermas

Rick Roderick and the Political Unconscious on Diet Soap #201

A while back I wrote here about how a video of my late friend Rick Roderick had surfaced on the web. I was so astonished by that video — to hear his voice and brilliance after all those years. This wild man of philosophy, a Texo-Marxist genius with a hellacious drawl, was too busy being… Continue reading Rick Roderick and the Political Unconscious on Diet Soap #201

Habermas weighs in on Merkel’s poll-driven politics

Over at Delliberately Considered, Tim Rosenkranz reports on a recent piece by Jurgen Habermas in a German news magazine in which he excoriates the German Chancellor for her  “opinion-poll dominated opportunism.” While the article focused on the problem of European integration and the continuing democracy deficit of the institutional frame of the European Union, Jürgen… Continue reading Habermas weighs in on Merkel’s poll-driven politics

Civil Society, or the Public Sphere?

I am ready to come clean with my worry about these two terms, “civil society” and “the public sphere.”  My political theorists friends (trained in political science departments) act and talk as if the difference between the two is patently obvious.  I just nod, a bit hesitant to admit that I don’t quite get it.… Continue reading Civil Society, or the Public Sphere?

Blogging and the End of Journalism

I’ve had a running debate with someone very close to me—I won’t say who, just that he is a journalist—about whether blogging has killed journalism. It’s true that journalism as we have known it is dying an agonizing death.  Walk into the newsroom of any major newspaper, my journalist tells me, especially its Washington bureau,… Continue reading Blogging and the End of Journalism