Comparatieve filosofie van het koffieleuten

Abstract

Comparative philosophy of drinking coffee. This paper presents a critique of Habermas’s notion of the public sphere from an analytical-philosophical and comparative perspective. It is analytical in taking linguistic practices seriously, though focusing on public and political forms of language use. Habermas, like Kant, appears to ignore that Enlightenment consists in the public use of language rather than reason. This point is made comparatively, by tracing the conceptual implications of the emergence of an Ottoman public sphere, notably in local coffeehouses. Initially, the Turkish and Arabic languages converged towards a common modern vocabulary, but subsequently, separate Turkish and Arabic spheres branched off from the common Ottoman sphere. Thus, the public sphere appears inherently linguistic, conversely, nationalist movements are made possible, not so much by a common language but by a public language. This constitutive if contested role of language blurs the apparently neat cleavage between Enlightenment universalism and romantic nationalism.