Chapter Habermas tra lavoro e interazione

Overview & Synopsis

The article analyzes the way in which the question of work is addressed in the different stages of development of Habermas' thought. What characterizes the approach of the German philosopher is above all the fact that he, differing from Marx, studies human societies and their historical development not starting from a unitary concept (that of mode of production) but focusing on two dimensions that cannot be reduced to each other: that of work and that of linguistically mediated interaction. Work is therefore no longer a unitary explanatory key. In supporting this view, Habermas also draws the distinction between Techne and Praxis, the two modes of human action on which Hannah Arendt reflected in her book “Vita activa”.