Abstract:

Juergen Habermas, the German Philosopher who visited ECNU earlier this year, is the major figure of the so - called New Frankfurt School. As a result of a new understanding of the relation between theory and practice, this School, in sharp contrast to the first - generation Critical Theorists represented by Horkheimer, highly values the philosophical tradition of American pragmatism. To Habermas, the idea of "critique" is, both substantially and methodologically, closely connected with the idea of "praxis" in the following senses: communicative action, rational argumentation, public discussion and political culture. At all these levels, from more abstract to more concrete, Habermas critically appropriates important resources found in American pragmatists from Peirce through Dewey to Rorty.

Key words: New Frankfurt School, American pragmatism, critique, Habermas