Abstract
In this paper I review a line of discussion on the threats and challenges that new digital information and communication technologies represent for democracy and the public sphere. It indicates the trajectory of the critique of the first generation of the Frankfurt School to Jürgen Habermas, whose latest book reviews his early studies of the public sphere. It is worth noting the change in attitude of its exponents: from pessimism in Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno and Herbert Marcuse, to moderate optimism in Habermas. Thanks to the ideas of the public use of reason and the Enlightenment thought up by Immanuel Kant, the link between this school and Hannah Arendt is justified, which have in common the denunciation of totalitarianism. The philosopher proposes an ideal of communicative power that Habermas follows in the project of deliberative democracy and provides an approach to point out the problems of the transformation of public communication today.
Presenters
César CansinoProfessor, Political Science, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, Mexico
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Digital Public Sphere, Democracy, Mass Media, Digital Information
