Jürgen Habermas is widely considered one of the most influential living philosophers and social theorists, whose work has spanned sixty years of academic writing. In the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, he began to engage more explicitly with questions of religion in his work, helping to popularize the term “post-secularism,” and offered leading analysis on the problem of religion in the public sphere, expanding and innovating John Rawls’s idea of the “public use of reason.” While this shift in Habermas’s work is significant, he has long been interested in questions relating to religion, dating back to his doctoral dissertation in 1954. To date, very few scholars have traced the idea of religion in Habermas’s work as a whole, and none have developed an analysis of how his conception of religion changes in relation to shifts in his broader theoretical ideas, and to significant changes in politics, such as the collapse of the Soviet Union and the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. My dissertation thus offers the first English-language critical investigation of the social construction of Habermas’s theory of religion. More specifically, I provide a critique of his theory based on ideas generated within the critical study of religions, and revisit the controversy between “deconstruction” and “rational reconstruction” in contemporary critical theory. Ultimately, I aim to expand Habermas’s model of reason and rationality to include elements of myth, ritual, and symbols, along with their various iterations in contexts of interaction, and as they are expressed in cultural narratives about religion within the public sphere.

This thesis argues that a theory of religion can be constructed upon a close reading of Jürgen Habermas' The Theory of Communicative Action. While influential in many diverse fields of scholarly research, Habermas' thought has been relatively neglected in the area of religion, especially around the time of the above publication. I address this gap in research by (a) considering Habermas' main arguments in terms of rationality, society, and communication, (b) tying these to his engagements with the work of Max Weber and Émile Durkheim, then (c) formulating a Habermasian theory of religion, before finally (d) offering both a critique and suggestions for future research.

This thesis argues that a theory of religion can be constructed upon a close reading of Jürgen Habermas' The Theory of Communicative Action. While influential in many diverse fields of scholarly research, Habermas' thought has been relatively neglected in the area of religion, especially around the time of the above publication. I address this gap in research by (a) considering Habermas' main arguments in terms of rationality, society, and communication, (b) tying these to his engagements with the work of Max Weber and Émile Durkheim, then (c) formulating a Habermasian theory of religion, before finally (d) offering both a critique and suggestions for future research.

This dissertation reports on the findings of a single, embedded, interpretive case study centered on nine teachers, supportt staff and administrators in a small, fledgling, faith-baised, independent school in a major city in Canada. Communication practices in schools are significantly impacted by the highly rational society in which they are situated as well as by the expectations often associated with traditional hierarchal roles. Independent schools, as a feature of their 'independence,' have certain freedoms to create new norms of leadeship and emancipation but also meet with greater pressures because of their increased dependency for sustainability on donations and tuition fees. They tend to be easily drawn into the competitive ideologies that exemplify a highly rationalized, free market capitalist society. A large body of literature describes the impact of excessive rationality on communicative practices. The work of Jurgen Habermas serves as foundational to the phenomena of communicative practices in this dissertation. The researcher used qualitative methods to explore participants' perspectives on the communicative practices of their school organization. The findings show participants to be vulnerable to the cultural hegemony of rationality, but anaware of that hegemonic power. However, the findings also show a desire to foster ethical and inclusive communicative practices. They also reveal a significant interplay between participants' individual theologies and their beliefs about communicative practices. The suggestions for educational change are to more readily educate both teachers and administrators regarding ethical discourse and the essential components of Ideal Speech, and for each school organization to conduct an audit of communicative practices to ensure an ongoing creation and critique of communicative norms. / Graduate

Zugl.: Würzburg, Univ., Diss., 2000

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-100). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1983. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 447-453). Also issued in print.

Version remaniée de: Magisterarbeit--Philosophisches Seminar--Universität Köln.

Diss.--Philosophische Fakultät--Saarbrücken--Universität des Saarlandes, 1989.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1983. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 447-453).