Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003 13:19:47 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [HAB:] Germans vs. those Americans


Claus Hanen's query causes me to raise a question that's
come to mind from time to time, which implies (for me) an
interesting situation for Habermas readers generally (I
hope).

The simple question is: Is there a Habermas discussion
group in German? I had assumed that there was, such that
the low degree of Spoons-based English-language engagement
with Habermas' work by European readers of Germany's
greatly popular public intellectual and philosophical
leader (?) was due to the fact that *real* Habermasians
don't bother with those Americans. Antti, for example. 

After all, one might think that work by Habermas comes into
English almost as a distant afterthought, years after its
appearance in German (and Habermas isn't really very
influential yet in the English world, especially inasmuch
as so few read him non-tangentially; regretfully, this is
something I can document, the meaning of which---for
me---is merely that he's philosophically ahead of the times
in America---one more reason for German readers to not care
much for the problems those Americans have with his work).
_Wahrheit und Rechtfertigung_ is a 1999 publication, fully
appreciated by those who really care about Habermas' work
long before it now comes into English as _Truth and
Justification_. True?

But really, I think the case is somewhat the converse.
Habermas' work is so pervasively a result of his engagement
with American philosophy and social theory that its meaning
and significance can only be considered relative to its
reception in the U.S. AND Europe. Thus, the English
dialogue is not tangential. To understand Habermas is to
understand the problem of the 


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