Is Jürgen Habermas’s attitude to the Ukraine conflict characterized by “naive pacifism,” as critics accuse him of? No, says historian of ideas and Habermas biographer Philipp Felsch. It is about much more than that.
In a disturbing key passage in his recently published book “The Philosopher”, the Berlin historian of ideas and Habermas biographer Philipp Felsch tells how Jürgen Habermas confessed to him that during the discussions about the Ukraine war, he no longer understood the German public for the first time. He sensed an enthusiasm for war that was deeply alienating to him. In this sense, skepticism towards the new German willingness to go to war remains high, particularly among the older generations of the country. Across party lines. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his SPD, which was recently severely punished in the European elections, are still struggling to find the right course. But this has nothing to do with the naive pacifism that Habermas supposedly taught the country, says Felsch. The intellectual legacy of Habermas, which we are now saying goodbye to, weighs much more heavily.