Dr William Martin presents ‘The Psychologisation of the private sphere in Habermas’ theory of communicative action’ on Friday 30 March from 12pm to 1pm.
When mapping the progress of Jürgen Habermas’s writings from the 1962 publication of The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere to the basic concept of communicative action developed in Knowledge and Human Interests (1968), it soon becomes clear that the inner world of psychological experiences is categorised as a form of ‘private’ language game that is repressed from ‘public’ communication.
In his presentation, through an interpretation of Goethe’s novella The Sorrows of Young Werther, a text that exemplifies the publication of private experience in the so-called ‘world of letters’, William will argue that the categories of public and private experience developed in Habermas’ historical account of the bourgeios public sphere remain operative in his pragmatic analysis of ‘expressive’ or ‘experiential’ speech-acts.
William Martin works as a communications officer at CDU’s School for Social and Policy Research. He recently completed his PhD at the University of New South Wales.
This seminar takes place in room 39, level 1, building 39, Casuarina Campus, Charles Darwin University.
Visit the School for Social and Policy Research website for more information about this and other SER seminars.