Habermas and Charles Taylor

The Kluge award for Habermas and Charles Taylor (the Canadian philosopher and not the Liberian war criminal) confirms the conservative status of Habermas. Habermas was claimed by some leftist youth groups in Europe, who probably never read him.  But the status of Habermas among the conservative American intellectual establishment was sealed after Sep. 11 where his writings converged with the Zionist analysis of Arab and Muslim public opinion. Habermas distinction between old (non-Muslim) and new (Muslim) terrorism fits into this American acclaim.  His analysis of Islamic fundamentalism totally disregarded the role of Western imperialism and most importantly of Israel.  I re-read this morning the article by Vivienne Boon, "Habermas and Islamic Fundamentalism: On the Limits of Discourse Ethics", in Journal of Global Ethics, August 2010. I recommend it.  Charles Taylor, on the other hand, is a social democrat, in the good sense of the word.