Stephen Downes

This is a reflection on the passing of Jürgen Habermas a few days ago. I am not even remotely a Habaemas scholar, so I cannot judge on the adequacy of this summary and critique of his thought, though assuming it is well represented, the response seems reasonable to me - a politics of discourse does favour those who were fortunate enough to learn the skills and manners required for success in this forum, and that practical actions - and especially interactions - matter at least as much as words. "In other words, democracy-as-discourse, important as this idea remains, has preconditions in the wider socio-economic system of society that Habermas did, arguably, not sufficiently address."