I just learned that Jürgen Habermas has died - even though it was over a month ago, and I guess I was pretty sure that he had been dead lo these many years - it has come as quite a shock to me.
Not the sort of shock that has all that much real work effect on me, more the sort that makes you briefly pause, and go, “...huh!” before returning to your previous thoughtfulless meanderings.
But as i was reading through his obituary, I was being reminded of his ideas about the vitality of public discourse and his centrality (whether acknowledged or not) in the need for ‘third space’. In the description of his thought (to be clear, I have not read Habermas in a long time - and not really even that deeply, but…) I was struck how Habermas had failed to take into consideration the concept of performance (a la Erving Goffman) in relation to his desire for enlightened conversation.
Given my own nascent political ruminations (stay tuned…), and its particular connection to Conversation, I thought I should outline some basic thoughts in these directions - but thankfully, someone has already taken care of that part for me. Thank you Italo!
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