RELIGION AND PUBLIC SPHERE
RELIGION AND PUBLIC SPHERE

Summary/Abstract: Since the first publication of his seminal book on the public sphere, Habermas himself was a pioneer of reflection on his theories, and of the conceptual reconstruction of the public sphere model. In several books and papers he answered to the ”vulnerable” points of his construction: a) the ambiguity of his initial construction, placed between a historical perspective and a normative one, that led to b) occidental ethnocentrism, that involves presenting the ”local” values and norms determining for the construction of the public sphere sub speciae universalis; c) the character excessively rationalist of the dialogue rules, that leads to excluding other communication forms; d) the emphasis put on interpersonal communication, and correlated to this, the reluctance concerning (technology) mediated communication forms or mediatized ones; e) the lack of interest for other types of public spheres (plebeian, alternative, popular, oppositional) that leads to closing the access to the “canonic” public sphere for certain categories of public – feminine, workers, religious believers, etc.

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