Habermas and the retreat of reason

The great German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, who died in March, wrote in his later works about what he called Unheimlichkeit — roughly translated as "the unease of the times" — to describe the global retreat of liberal democracy, the fraying of the rules-based international order, and the increasing polarisation and hostility of public discourse. And yet, to the end he defended Enlightenment reason and the utility of rational debate. In a world that seems to be losing its democratic bearings, has Habermas' day passed? Or is the problem more that we haven't read him carefully enough?

Guest: Peter J. Verovšek, Assistant Professor in the History of European Integration, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

Producer: David Rutledge

Did Jürgen Habermas's death also mark the end of his vision of democratic life? - Peter Verovšek for ABC Religion & Ethics

*The 2026 Alan Saunders Lecture* - Alexandre Lefebvre on 'The return of the moral state: philosophy and the good life', Thursday September 24 at 6.30 pm

Register on the 2026 Alan Saunders Lecture event page, registrations close on September 17