Talk is precious: in the age of communication collapse, Jurgen Habermas's message remains vital | Eva von Redecker

"The Frankfurt School is not a school. It is, at least according to my former teacher, the critical theorist Rahel Jaeggi, a constellation. For a century, this scholarly constellation has pursued the intellectual endeavour of critique. Critique here is not the thumbs down or blocking exercised on social media. It is the wild aspiration to describe reality in a way that transforms it."

"Jurgen Habermas, who died on 14 March 2026 at the age of 96, was a fixed star in this constellation. He set the compass for several generations of mostly German and North American thinkers. Habermas was incredibly prolific, with more than 40 books to his name, and very charismatic."

"At the beginning of his career, Habermas was deemed too radically leftwing by Max Horkheimer, the then director of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research. Only Theodor Adorno's insistence kept the door open to the pamphleteering young assistant who was to become the first notable non-Jewish proponent of the Frankfurt School."

The Frankfurt School represents not a formal institution but a constellation of scholars dedicated to critique—understood as transformative analysis of reality rather than simple criticism. Jürgen Habermas, who died in 2026 at 96, was a central figure in this intellectual tradition, authoring over 40 books and profoundly influencing German and North American thinkers. While known for consensus-oriented discourse ethics, Habermas's actual positions are more complex and contested. Critics characterize him as a bourgeois liberal who betrayed earlier Frankfurt School radicalism and marginalized feminist scholarship and Foucauldian power analysis. However, this assessment oversimplifies his trajectory. Early in his career, Habermas was considered dangerously radical by Frankfurt Institute director Max Horkheimer, with only Theodor Adorno's support enabling his advancement. His early writings demonstrate commitment to Marxist analysis of progressive historical forces.

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