Habermas, Psychoanalysis, and Emancipation

Abstract

Jurgen Habermas asserts that all knowledge is based upon human values. He criticises the values which underlie (positivistic) empirical science and instead suggests that hermeneutics provide a more appropriate basis for human sciences. However, Habermas rejects ordinary hermeneutics for its tendency to reify tradition and language, and to assume that subjects are aware of the meaning of their actions. Instead Habermas proposes a 'depth hermeneutic' in which psychoanalysis functions as the model for a reflective science of emancipation. Habermas's treatment of psychoanalysis is assessed in the light of the power-relationship within the analytic situation.