Habermas and Chinese Modernity

(4 Credits)

While Jürgen Habermas is a German thinker well-known for his philosophical defense of modernity as “an unfinished project”, China has surprised the world with its dramatic developments and ambiguous potentials. Reading Habermas in the context of China could hopefully lead both to a clear understanding of modernity and to a solid preparation for further studies on related topics. The main body of the course includes 5 sections, respectively focusing on value rationality and instrumental rationality, democracy and science, capitalism and socialism, universalism and particularism, and the national and the international. In each section students are introduced to a particular problem at issue, are shown how it was discussed in China and how it was addressed by Habermas, and are encouraged to present and argue for their own ideas on it. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: Humanities Advanced Courses (18-19 Topic Courses); The Politics, Economy, and Environment of China.