Philosopher's Zone Habermas and the retreat of reason
Aug 12, 2026
Peter J. Verovšek, Assistant Professor in the History and Theory of European Integration, discusses Jürgen Habermas and the sense of Unheimlichkeit — the growing unease around liberal democracy. He explores Habermas's ties to post‑war order, public reason and deliberative legitimacy. The conversation touches on nationalism, Holocaust memory as democratic foundation, and whether Habermas still helps diagnose our political crises.
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The Uncanny Feeling That Institutions Are Faking Normality
- Unheimlichkeit captures a creeping sense that familiar institutions remain but feel like a façade and a rupture is looming.
- Peter J. Verovšek links the term to rising AI, disinformation and a background dread that the postwar order is changing.
Habermas Wanted Law Above States Not Just Between Them
- Habermas pushed constitutionalization of international law and cosmopolitan law to give individuals recourse beyond states.
- Verovšek frames this as Habermas’s intellectual scaffolding for a rules-based international order and EU support.
The EU As Habermas's Model For Politics Catching Up To Economics
- The post-national constellation proposes layering political authority upward to handle transnational economic forces.
- Habermas saw the EU as a testing ground where politics must catch up to globalization to regulate markets democratically.
