Toward a Rational Society

Student Protest, Science, and Politics

Author  Juergen Habermas Translated by  Jeremy J. Shapiro
Toward a Rational Society

Knowledge, communication, action – These are the concepts central to all of Habermas's thought. As a philosopher, he is concerned with the rational connections of these concepts. As a sociologist, he is prepared to analyze with care the distortions of human interactions caused by existing social and political institutions. 
In a series of connected essays, the author assesses the function of the contemporary university, and sharply analyzes contemporary students and their political efforts.
He then brilliantly analyzes as a communications model the relationships between research institutes and the political agencies which employ them. The book concludes with a complex discussion of technology and science as an "ideology," dedicated to Herbert Marcuse.
Critical parts of Marcuse's thought, Habermas dissects contemporary democratic dialogue…