The crisis of humanism in Foucault and Habermas

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is the criticism of humanism, in the way that has been developed by Michel Foucault and Jürgen Habermas. In first place, the author presents the substance of the criticism of Foucault to humanism (as a part of the modern episteme, under the influences of a «metaphysical» thesis of the subject). In second place, the author presents the draft of Habermas, who was also aware of the crisis of humanism and philosophical anthropology, and intervened in these debates, in the 1980s, with his opposition to post-structuralism, by pointing the normative deficit of his critique to Modernity. The general aim is, first, to properly raise criticisms of Foucault and Habermas to humanism, attending the context in which they occurred. Secondly, the author seeks to identify the thesis that divides the Habermasian project from the Foucaultian project. Finally, the author makes a critical assessment of both projects in relation to the place that emancipatory social struggles should occupy after the collapse of humanism.

Keywords

• Modernidad, humanismo, filosofía del sujeto, poder