Habermas, reader of Marx and Max Weber

Abstract

Marx and Max Weber occupy a prominent place in the gallery of ancestors from which Habermas intends to take over the inheritance. His stance towards them is, however, explicitly reconstructive, which implies a self-confessed critical dimension. Habermas wants to “welcome Weber in the spirit of Western Marxism”, but under the auspices of the concept of communicational rationality, and, consequently, from a perspective “critical in relation to the Marxist tradition itself”. The purpose is, therefore, that of a “reconstruction of Marxism”, begun a long time ago, and a reconstruction of the Weberian theory of rationality, to which the second chapter of Théorie de l'agir communicationnel is dedicated, and which Habermas takes up in final consideration of this work.