Between Habermas and Lyotard: Rethinking the Contrast between Modernity and Postmodernity

Abstract

The article shows that Habermas’s modernism and Lyotard’s postmodernism are not asantithetical as they are often taken to be. First, we argue that Habermas is not a strongfoundationalist concerned with identifying universal rules for language, as postmoderncritiques have often interpreted him. Instead, he develops a social pragmatics inwhich the communicative use of language is the fundamental presupposition of anymeaningful interaction. Second, we argue that Lyotard is not a relativist who deniesany universal linguistic structure. Instead, he claims that language involves a universalelement of dissensus that cannot be subordinated to consensus. Third, we show thatneither does Habermas defend a new version of the kind of philosophy of historycharacteristic of the Enlightenment, nor is Lyotard a historical relativist, but insteadthey both seek alternatives to these positions. The conclusion calls for more nuance inthe interpretation of both perspectives.