The Foundations of Postmetaphysical Thinking: Habermas and the History of Philosophy, Volume I (Antinomies)

Simon Susen’s trilogy offers a systematic account of Jürgen Habermas’s Also a History of Philosophy.It provides a comprehensive overview of the central issues at stake in this magnum opus and, crucially, assesses its most significant limitations and shortcomings. Susen shows how Habermas’s approach to the history of philosophy seeks to reconstruct the genealogy of postmetaphysical thinking by tracing the tension-laden relationship between faith and knowledge back to the major developments brought about during the Axial Age.The trilogy examines how Habermas’s latest project invites us to reconsider not only classical antinomies - such as faith vs. knowledge, the sacred vs. the profane, religion vs. science - but also the role of philosophy in the twenty-first century, particularly with regard to its capacity to overcome the tension between ‘ideologization’ [Verweltanschaulichung] and ‘scientization’ [Verwissenschaftlichung].This endeavour, Susen argues, sheds light on the extent to whic