Page 7 - Communication and the Evolution of Society

vill Translator’s Introduction

the classical doctrine of politics to modern political science,
Habermas noted a decisive shift in the conceptions of theory and
practice and their interrelation.? For Aristotle politics was con-
tinuous with ethics, the doctrine of the good and just life. As
such it referred to the sphere of human action, praxis, and was
directed to achieving and maintaining an order of virtuous con-
duct among the citizens of the polzs. The practical intention of
politics, as well as the nature of its subject matter, determined
its cognitive status: Politics could not assume the form of a
rigorous science, of episteme but had to rest content with estab-
lishing rules of a more-or-less and in-most-cases character. The
capacity thereby cultivated, and the keystone of the virtuous
character, was phronesis, a prudent understanding of variable
situations with a view to what was to be done.
With the rise of modern science the classical conception of
politics was drastically altered. Theory came to mean the logically
integrated systems of quantitatively expressed, lawlike statements
characteristic of the most advanced sciences. Given a description
of the relevant initial conditions, such theories could be used
(within certain limits) to predict future states of a system; pro-
viding the relevant factors were manipulable, they could also be
used to produce desired states of affairs. Adopting this ideal of
knowledge for politics, Hobbes early outlined a program that
took human behavior as the material for a science of man, society,
and the state. On the basis of a correct understanding of the laws
of human nature it would be possible to establish once and for
all the conditions for a proper ordering of human life. The
classical instruction in leading a good and just life, the formation
of virtuous character, and the cultivation of practical prudence
would be replaced by the application of a scientifically grounded
social theory, by the production of the conditions that would lead
to the desired behavior according to the laws of nature. In this
way the sphere of the practical was absorbed into the sphere of
the technical; the practical problem of the virtuous life of the
citizens of the polis was transformed into the technical-adminis-
trative problem of regulating social intercourse so as to ensure the
order and well-being of the citizens of the state.
In Habermas’ view the principal loss incurred in this transition