Table Of ContentThe Limits of
Scientific Reason
Continental Philosophy in Austral-Asia
Series Editors: Simone Bignall, Senior Lecturer,
Indigenous Strategy and Engagement, Flinders University;
P. Diego Bubbio, Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy, University
of Western Sydney; Joanne Faulkner, Lecturer in Philosophy and
Women’s and Gender Studies, University of New South Wales; and
Paul Patton, Scientia Professor, University of New South Wales
The Continental Philosophy in Austral-Asia series transports a tradition of thought under-
stood as belonging to one place – “the continent” – to places that were transformed in its
image through colonisation: Australia, New Zealand, East Asia, and South Asia. The series
aims to explore and showcase the diverse ways in which European philosophy has been
interpreted and put to use according to the contexts and questions particular to life in even
further, stranger, and more “exotic” continents.
Titles in the Series
Young and Free: [Post]colonial Ontologies of Childhood, Memory and History in
Australia, Joanne Faulkner
The Phenomenology of Gravidity: Reframing the Maternal in Merleau-Ponty, Levinas
and Derrida, Jane Lymer
Deleuze and the Humanities: East and West, edited by Rosi Braidotti, Kin Yuen Wong,
and Amy K. S. Chan
Unsettling Food Politics: Agriculture, Dispossession and Sovereignty in Australia,
Christopher Mayes
Reimagining Sympathy, Recognising Difference, Millicent Churcher
Towards Continental Philosophy: Reason and Imagination in the Thought of Max
Deutscher, Max Deutscher
The Limits of Scientific Reason: Habermas, Foucault, and Science as a Social Institution,
John McIntyre
The Limits of
Scientific Reason
Habermas, Foucault, and Science
as a Social Institution
John McIntyre
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: McIntyre, John, 1952– author.
Title: The limits of scientific reason : Habermas, Foucault, and science as a social
institution / John McIntyre.
Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2021] | Series: Continental philosophy
in Austral-Asia | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “This is
the first book to focus on science as a social institution based on a comprehensive
analysis of the thought of Foucault and Habermas. A key aspect of this book is its
standpoint which critiques science, whilst simultaneously interrogating philosophical
critique which must in a certain sense accommodate science, and its effect on
modernity”— Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021020914 (print) | LCCN 2021020915 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781538157787 (hardback) | ISBN 9781538157794 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Habermas, Jürgen. | Foucault, Michel, 1926-1984. | Science—Social
aspects. | Science—Philosophy. | Science and civilization. | Civilization, Modern.
Classification: LCC Q175.5 .M39545 2021 (print) | LCC Q175.5 (ebook) |
DDC 306.4/5—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021020914
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021020915
∞ ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Contents
Abbreviations vii
Preface ix
1 Modernity’s Nagging Question 1
Science and Society 1
The Aim and Contents of the Book 7
Philosophy and Its Contexts 13
Habermas and Foucault: Lives and Motivations 19
Modernity Science and Philosophy 33
2 Habermas’s Critique of Positivism 39
Habermas’s Response to Positivism 40
Knowledge and Human Interests 50
Habermas’s Theoretical Partitions 62
3 Science, Modernity, and Communicative Action 67
Habermas’s Linguistic Turn 67
Lifeworld, System, and the Rationalisation of Society 73
The Diagnosis of Modernity 80
Insights and Aporias 85
Reinterpreting Habermas 94
4 Science and Deliberative Democracy 101
Between Facts and Norms 102
Philosophy and Science 109
The Future of Human Nature 114
Free Will and Determinism 122
Concluding Thoughts 129
v
vi Contents
5 Foucault’s Archaeology of Scientific Knowledge 133
Foucault’s Radicalisation of Critique 133
Madness 139
Archaeology and the History of Science 144
Order and the Sciences 150
Concluding Thoughts 163
6 Science and Power 167
From Archaeology to Genealogy 168
The Emergence and Dissemination of Modern
Power/Knowledge 172
The Constitution of the Subject 179
The Natural Sciences 185
The Normalisation of Society 188
Biopower and Governmentality 191
Normative Confusions 200
7 Science and the Genealogy of the Subject 207
Foucault’s Broader Framework 207
Ethics, Aesthetics, and Spirituality 214
The Genealogy of the Subject 220
Philosophy and Science after Kant 228
8 Science, Philosophy, and Modernity 233
The Reconcilability of Habermas and Foucault 234
Reflexivity and Its Modern Radicalisation 237
Discovery and Self-Transformation 239
Normative Foundations and Confusions 249
Wrapping Up the Debate 254
Concluding Reflections 261
Bibliography 267
Index 279
About the Author 289
Abbreviations
The following abbreviations are used for frequently cited works by Habermas
and Foucault. Full bibliographic details can be found in “Bibliography” sec-
tion. The dates shown are the dates of editions used for this book. The origi-
nal dates of publication are listed in Bibliography.
FOUCAULT
Books by Foucault
AK 1989 The Archaeology of Knowledge
BC 1994 The Birth of the Clinic
DP 1995 Discipline and Punish
HM 2006 The History of Madness
HS1 1979 History of Sexuality vol. 1
HS2 1990 History of Sexuality vol. 2
OT 2002 The Order of Things
Foucault’s interviews, lectures, and essays
EW1 1997a Essential Works volume 1
EW2 2002 Essential Works volume 2
EW3 2000 Essential Works volume 3
FR 1984 The Foucault Reader
FL 1989 Foucault Live
PK 1980 Power/Knowledge
PT 1997b The Politics of Truth
PPC 1988b Michel Foucault: Politics, Philosophy Culture
vii
viii Abbreviations
Lecture Courses at College de France
AB 2003b Abnormal 1974–1975
BB 2008b The Birth of Biopolitics 1978–1979
CT 2012 The Courage of Truth 1983–1984
GOL 2014 On the Government of the Living 1979–1980
GSO 2011 The Government of Self and Others 1982–1983
HS 2005 The Hermeneutics of the Subject 1981–1982
PP 2008a Psychiatric Power 1973–1974
SD 2003a Society Must be Defended 1975–1976
STP 2007 Security, Territory and Population 1977–1978
WK 2013 Lectures on the Will to Know 1970–1971
HABERMAS
Books by Habermas
BFN 1992 Between Facts and Norms
BNR 2009 Between Naturalism and Religion
CES 1979 Communication and the Evolution of Society
FHN 2003b The Future of Human Nature
KHI 1972 Knowledge and Human Interests
LC 1988b Legitimation Crisis
LSS 1988a On the Logic of the Social Sciences
MCCA 1990a Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action
OPC 2002b On the Pragmatics of Communication
OPSI 2001 On the Pragmatics of Social Interaction
PD 1976 The Positivist Dispute in German Sociology
PDM 1990b The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity
PMT 1992 Postmetaphysical Thinking
RR 2002a Religion and Rationality
STPS 1989a The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere
TCA1 1983 The Theory of Communicative Action vol. 1
TCA2 1989b The Theory of Communicative Action vol. 2
TJ 2003a Truth and Justification
TP 1971a Theory and Practice
TRS 1971b Towards a Rational Society
Preface
Some books have a long gestation. The conception of this book was half
a lifetime ago in what now seems another world, one of the most remote
regions in the Papua New Guinea highlands. Working as a horticultural exten-
sion officer, I had been drawn to a region of precipitous mountains, drenching
rain, and breathtaking beauty not only by a youthful sense of adventure but
also by a vision of science as the means to a better world. After gleaning some
insight into the everyday concerns of my indigenous hosts I increasingly
began to suspect that something was amiss with this vision. This suspicion
was heightened by the many conversations with visiting Western trained
experts—agronomists, economists, anthropologists, engineers, plant geneti-
cists, and so forth—some of whom shared my reservations. It wasn’t that the
scientific standpoint was false or that it didn’t hold out genuine emancipatory
possibilities. It was rather that to be rigorous, science needed to abstract from
the complexity and richness of its messy context, from life as actually lived.
Several decades later, I found myself where I should have started—under-
taking a doctoral programme in the Philosophy Department at the University
of Sydney. My aim was now to pick up the scattered threads of my youthful
suspicions and follow them wherever they may lead. This endeavour led to
this book which, in the course of its gestation, profited enormously from
conversations, discussions, and exchanges with many people. I will mention
just a few. Dave MacArthur first introduced me to a critique of scientific
naturalism and the possibilities of more liberal forms of naturalism. I was
lucky to have as my doctoral supervisor John Grumley, who broadened the
scope of my research by encouraging me to reflect more deeply on the histori-
cal and social contexts of science. I am also indebted to Paul Redding who at
several critical points was able to suggest fresh perspectives. The perceptive
comments of Chris Falzon on the directions a book could take helped me
ix
