Jürgen Habermas, German philosopher and critical theorist, dies at 96

On Saturday, Jürgen Habermas, the prominent German philosopher and key member of the Frankfurt School, passed away at the age of 96. His intellectual journey began under the mentorship of Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, though he later distanced himself from their influence and the radical leftist movements of the 1960s. Habermas, whose father served in local government during the Nazi regime, was conscripted in 1944. In 1967, he criticized student leaders Rudi Dutschke and Hans-Jürgen Krahl, labeling them as proponents of 'leftwing fascism.' His seminal work, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (1962), explored the roles of media and mass literacy. In 1992, he published Between Facts and Norms, which examined the complexities of modern society. In November 2023, he co-signed an open letter cautioning against the comparison of Israel's conflict in Gaza to historical atrocities.