Skip to main content
Book cover

Rethinking Ethical-Political Education pp 137–151Cite as

Bildung as Democratic Opinion and Will Formation. Habermas Beyond Habermas

Part of the Contemporary Philosophies and Theories in Education book series (COPT,volume 16)

Abstract

Considering citizenship education specifically in relation to deliberative politics, first, I focus on the role that Habermas in Between Facts and Norms allots to opinion and will formation as a kind of Bildung, emphasizing the collective aspect of discursive formation in the state as well as in civil society. Secondly, even though I have stressed the crucial role of deliberation in the formation to virtue, I recognize that Habermas attempts to combine the republican call for civic virtue with the liberal claims to have rights. Thirdly, I emphasize that also for Habermas Bildung in some sense constitutes the truth of human being , although it is not specified in detail. Fourthly, I argue that democratic citizenship education would benefit from a substantial notion of Bildung, but that Habermas does not support such an argument. Recognizing that Habermas’s idea of collective formation is restricted to providing justice in terms of politics and law, and bearing in mind the alienation in fact produced within the multitudes of modern capitalist and militarist society, I conclude by expressing the fear that Habermas’s account of democratic formation will not be sufficiently attractive to contemporary democratic citizens and thus unable to function as a normative ideal.

Keywords

  • Deliberate democracy
  • Jürgen Habermas
  • Citizenship education
  • Bildung
  • Socialism

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-49524-4_9
  • Chapter length: 15 pages
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
eBook
USD   129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-3-030-49524-4
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Softcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Hardcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    For a critical discussion of the way alienation is dealt with by contemporary critical theorists, see my (Sørensen 2019a).

  2. 2.

    See, e.g., my analysis of neo-liberalism in the Postscript of (Sørensen 2019b).

  3. 3.

    A first attempt is provided in my (Sørensen 2020).

  4. 4.

    Remember that Habermas, following Kant and Hegel, use the words ‘ethics’ and ‘morality’ in an almost inverse sense of what is usual in the Anglosphere (see (Habermas 1991), 7).

  5. 5.

    For an account of Habermas in relation to classical Critical Theory, see section D of the Interlude in (Sørensen 2019b).

  6. 6.

    Again, my first sketch will appear in (Sørensen 2020).

References

  • Andersen, P. Ø., Ellegaard, T., & Muschinsky, L. J. (2007). Klassisk og moderne pædagogisk teori. København: Hans Reitzel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arteta, A. (2008). El saber del ciudadano: Las nociones capitales de la democracia. Madrid: Alianza.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benner, D., & Oelkers, J. (2004). Historisches Wörterbuch der Pädagogik. Beltz: Weinheim.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bridges, D. (Ed.). (2014). Education, Autonomy, and Democratic Citizenship: Philosophy in a Changing World(1997; pb. ed.). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brookfield, S. (2005). Learning Democratic Reason: The Adult Education Project of Jürgen Habermas. Teachers College Record,107(6), 1127–1168.

    Google Scholar 

  • Enslin, P., & White, P. (2003). Democratic Ditizenship. In N. Blake, P. Smeyers, R. Smith, & P. Standish (Eds.), The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Education (pb. ed., pp. 110–125). Malden: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrara, A. (2015). The Democratic Horizon. Hyperpluralism and the Renewal of Political Liberalism (2014; pb. ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutmann, A. (2009). Educating for Individual Freedom and Democratic Citizenship: In Unity and Diversity there is Strength. In H. Siegel (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Education (pb. ed., pp. 409–427). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. (1976). Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit(1962; 8th ed.). Neuwied: Luchterhand.

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. (1981/1988). Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns (Vol. 1–2). Frankfurt a.M: Suhrkamp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. (1986). Der Idee der Universität – Lernprozesse. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik,32(5), 703–718.

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. (1991). Erläuterungen zur Diskursethik. Frankfurt a.M, Suhrkamp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. (1996). Drei normative Modelle der Demokratie (1992). In Habermas,Die Einbeziehung des Anderen. Suhrkamp: Frankfurt a.M.

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. (1997). Faktizität und Geltung. Beiträge zur Diskurstheorie des Rechts und des demokratischen Rechtsstaats (1992; 4th ed.). Frankfurt a.M: Suhrkamp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halstead, J. M. (2013). Moral and Citizenship Education. In R. Bailey, R. Barrow, D. Carr, & C. McCarthy (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Philosophy of Education(2010; pb. ed., pp. 253–268). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Held, D. (2006). Models of Democracy. Stanford: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hittinger, R. (1994). John Rawls, “Political Liberalism”. The Review of Metaphysics,47(3), 585–602.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kant, I. (2011). In P. Niesen & O. Eberl (Eds.), Zum ewigen Frieden: und Auszüge aus der Rechtslehre (1st ed.). Berlin: Suhrkamp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaspersen, L. B., & Loftager, J. (Eds.). (2009). Klassisk og moderne politisk teori. København: Hans Reitzel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krejsler, J. (2002). Læring, magt og individualitet: når pædagogik iscenesættes som selvbestemmelse. København: Gyldendal Uddannelse.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lembcke, O. W., Ritzi, C., & Schaal, G. S. (Eds.). (2012). Zeitgenössische Demokratietheorie. Band 1: Normative Demokratietheorien. Wiesbaden: Springer Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masschelein, J. (1991). Kommunikatives Handeln und pädagogisches Handeln. Weinheim: Deutscher Studien Verlag & Leuven University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montesquieu, C. D. S. B. D. (1989). The Spirit of the Laws (A. M. Cohler, B. C. Miller, & H. S. Stone Trans.; A. M. Cohler, B. C. Miller, & H. S. Stone Eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Renouvier, C. (1981 [1848]). Manuel republican de l’homme et du citoyen. Paris: Editions Garnier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rorty, R. (1994). Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1980). Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rostbøll, C. F. (2008). Emancipation or Accommodation?: Habermasian vs. Rawlsian Deliberative Democracy. Philosophy and Social Criticism,34(7), 707–736. https://doi.org/10.1177/0191453708093083.

  • Roth, K. (2001). Democracy, Education and Citizenship: Towards a Theory on the Education of Deliberative Democratic Citizens. Stockholm: Stockholm Institute of Education Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sørensen, A. (2012). Durkheim: The Goal of Education in a Democratic State is Autonomy. In P. Kemp & A. Sørensen (Eds.), Politics in Education (pp. 183–198). Paris/Berlin: Institut international de philosophie/Lit Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sørensen, A. (2015). From Critique of Ideology to Politics: Habermas on Bildung. Ethics and Education,10(2), 252–270. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449642.2015.1055148.

  • Sørensen, A. (2017). Introducing Theme and Articles. In A. Sørensen (Ed.), Kant and the Establishment of Peace, Danish Yearbook of Philosophy, 50 (pp. 7–45). Leiden/Boston: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sørensen, A. (2019a). Alienation reconsidered. Criticizing non-speculative anti-essentialism. Eikasia. Revista de filosofía,89 (pp. 151–180). Monográfico: Narrativas de crisis y nuevos sujetos.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sørensen, A. (2019b). Capitalism, Alienation and Critique. Studies in Economy and Dialectics (Dialectics, Deontology and Democracy, vol. I) (L. R. Svanøe, Ed.). Leiden/Boston: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sørensen, A. (2020). Expanding Democratic Citizenship Education Through Bildung. Klafki Confronting 21st Century. Paper presented at the IX Congreso Internacional de Filosofía de la Educación (Cife 2019). “Perspectivas actuales de la condición humana y la acción educativa”, Sevilla.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Asger Sørensen

Authors
  1. Asger Sørensen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Asger Sørensen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Torill Strand

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Sørensen, A. (2020). Bildung as Democratic Opinion and Will Formation. Habermas Beyond Habermas. In: Strand, T. (eds) Rethinking Ethical-Political Education. Contemporary Philosophies and Theories in Education, vol 16. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49524-4_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49524-4_9

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-49523-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-49524-4

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)