Habermas and Quasi-transcendental Foundations of Knowledge

The present study will investigate some thoughts of Habermas, German sociologist and philosopher, which in Persian texts, less attention has been paid to it. One of the main aims of his research program has been approximating knowledge and life or Life-world, and this article attempts to present a systematic review of this effort of Habermas and his intellectual confrontations with other philosophical-social disciplines. The concept “Quasi-transcendental” plays a key role in this regard and it converts the Cartesian knowledge from the transcendental subject into a historical process arisen from the practical necessities. Therefore, this article has tried to clarify the meaning, roots, and functions of this concept. Accordingly, two books have a crucial stall: Knowledge and Human Interests and The Theory of Communicative Action. The findings show that: 1. the questions that Habermas in his book seek to answers in fact are the questions of Kant: (the common conditions of recognition possibility) 2. Quasi-transcendental interests are rooted in human life, which is a fundamental change in critical theories. 3. Habermas's epistemology seeks to revive the values of enlightenment and liberation from domination. 4. Habermas enters into debate with other intellectual disciplines through the formation of cognitive interests (transcendence of the Frankfurt School, a critique of postmodernism, and other philosophical disciplines).