HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Rainer Forst (born 15 August 1964,
Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...
) is a German
philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
and
political theorist A political theorist is someone who engages in constructing or evaluating political theory, including political philosophy. Theorists may be academics or independent scholars. Here the most notable political theorists are categorized by their ...
, and was called the "most important political philosopher of his generation" in 2012, when he won the
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (german: link=no, Förderpreis für deutsche Wissenschaftler im Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Programm der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft), in short Leibniz Prize, is awarded by the German Research Foundation to ...
. Currently he is Professor of Political Theory at the Department for Social Sciences,
Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...
in
Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
. He is often identified with the newest generation of scholars associated with the
Frankfurt School The Frankfurt School (german: Frankfurter Schule) is a school of social theory and critical philosophy associated with the Institute for Social Research, at Goethe University Frankfurt in 1929. Founded in the Weimar Republic (1918–1933), dur ...
of
critical theory A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from soci ...
. He received his doctorate under the supervision of
Jürgen Habermas Jürgen Habermas (, ; ; born 18 June 1929) is a German social theorist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. His work addresses communicative rationality and the public sphere. Associated with the Frankfurt School, Habermas's wor ...
in 1993, with additional supervision by
John Rawls John Bordley Rawls (; February 21, 1921 – November 24, 2002) was an American moral, legal and political philosopher in the liberal tradition. Rawls received both the Schock Prize for Logic and Philosophy and the National Humanities Medal in 1 ...
from 1991 to 1992. His main areas of research are political theory,
pragmatism Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that considers words and thought as tools and instruments for prediction, problem solving, and action, and rejects the idea that the function of thought is to describe, represent, or mirror reality. ...
, tolerance, and political and social justice. His first book in English, ''Contexts of Justice'', incorporated elements of Anglo-American
liberal theory Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
and
communitarianism Communitarianism is a philosophy that emphasizes the connection between the individual and the community. Its overriding philosophy is based upon the belief that a person's social identity and personality are largely molded by community relati ...
with German critical and
social theory Social theories are analytical frameworks, or paradigms, that are used to study and interpret social phenomena.Seidman, S., 2016. Contested knowledge: Social theory today. John Wiley & Sons. A tool used by social scientists, social theories rela ...
. He is frequently recognized as perhaps the world's leading authority on the subject of
toleration Toleration is the allowing, permitting, or acceptance of an action, idea, object, or person which one dislikes or disagrees with. Political scientist Andrew R. Murphy explains that "We can improve our understanding by defining "toleration" as a ...
.


Publications


In English

*2002. ''Contexts of Justice'', J. Farrell (trans.), Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. *2008. "Pierre Bayle's Reflexive Theory of Toleration", in M. Williams, J. Waldron (eds.), Toleration and its Limits (Nomos XLVIII), New York: New York University Press, 78–113. *2012. ''The Right to Justification: Elements of a Constructivist Theory of Justice'', J. Flynn (trans.), A. Allen (ed.), New York: Columbia University Press. *2013. ''Toleration in Conflict: Past and Present'', C. Cronin (trans.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. *2013. ''Justification and Critique: Towards a Critical Theory of Politics'', C. Cronin (trans.), Cambridge: Polity Press. *2014. ''Justice, Democracy and the Right to Justification: Rainer Forst in Dialogue'', London: Bloomsbury Academic. *2014. ''The Power of Tolerance'', with Wendy Brown, New York: Columbia University Press. *2018. ''Normativity and Power'', C. Cronin (trans.), Oxford: Oxford University Press.


In German

* ''Kontexte der Gerechtigkeit. Politische Philosophie jenseits von Liberalismus und Kommunitarismus.'' 1994, 1996 und 2004, Suhrkamp Verlag. English Title: ''Contexts of Justice. Political Philosophy beyond Liberalism and Communitarianism'', John M. M. Farrell (trans.), Berkeley. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2002. * ''Toleranz. Philosophische Grundlagen und gesellschaftliche Praxis einer umstrittenen Tugend''. 2000, Campus Verlag (Herausgeber). (In German) * ''Toleranz im Konflikt. Geschichte, Gehalt und Gegenwart eines umstrittenen Begriffs''. 2003, Suhrkamp Verlag. ''Toleration in Conflict: Past and Present'', C. Cronin (trans.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * ''Das Recht auf Rechtfertigung. Elemente einer konstruktivistischen Theorie der Gerechtigkeit''. 2007, Suhrkamp Verlag. English Title: ''The Right to Justification: Elements of a Constructivist Theory of Justice'', J. Flynn (trans.), Columbia University Press, 2012. * ''Kritik der Rechtfertigungsverhältnisse. Perspektiven einer kritischen Theorie der Politik''. 2011, Suhrkamp Verlag. English Title: ''Justification and Critique.Towards a Critical Theory of Politics'', trans. C. Cronin, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013. * ''Normativität und Macht. Zur Analyse sozialer Rechtfertigungsordnungen''. 2015, Suhrkamp Verlag. English Title: ''Normativity and Power'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, C. Cronin (trans.), 2018.


References


Further reading

*


External links

*Freie Universität Berlin/Goethe University Frankfurt, Justitia Amplificata. Prof Dr Rainer Forst

__NOTOC__ 1964 births Frankfurt School German philosophers Goethe University Frankfurt faculty German male writers German political scientists German political philosophers Living people Political philosophers {{Germany-academic-bio-stub