On the Philosophical Origin of Jürgen Habermas’ Concept of Lebenswelt – remarks and comments

Abstract

The article is an attempt to indicate the unexplored "conceptual antecedence" as the part of the genealogical context from which Jürgen Habermas’ concept derives. The first part of the text shows the convergences between this concept and the notion of „the sphere of right”(Recht) which is used by Hegel in his philosophy. Thus, the sphere of right is an area of law, social life which includes positive laws, morality and ethical institutions (family, civil society and state). Although Hegel does not separate even the "right" from the "system", but he endows it with qualities that Habermas attributes to the Lebenswelt (in his Theory of Communicative Action). The second part of the article presents several motives discussed by Arnold Gehlen in his philosophical anthropology and the theory of institutions: the rehabilitation of instrumental rationality and technology; the concept of non-discursive knowledge which determines social practices; the genesis of moral norms etc. The article demonstrates that in his concept of the Lebenswelt, Habermas shares views and reaches similar conclusions to Gehlen.