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The celebrated German philosopher Jrgen Habermaswill turn 92 next month, yet he remains firmly in the public eye after he accepted, then rejected, a controversial award from the United Arab Emirates(UAE)this week.

Having decided to accept the Sheikh Zayed Book Award whichmade himCultural Personality of the Year 2021and 225,000($271,000) richer Habermas turned it down on Sunday over concerns about human rights in the Gulf nation.

In the end, Habermas could not compromise his core philosophical principles established over more than sevendecades.

Having advocatedfor the right to asylum during the 2015 migrant crisis, and against right-wingpopulismand xenophobiain the 2019 European Parliament elections,Habermas remains activelycommitted to his cosmopolitan ideal ofan openand rigorousdemocracy.

After turning 90 in 2019,he also publisheda 1,700-pagework,This Too a History of Philosophy,a look at the evolution of human rationality and reasonthat the Boston Reviewcalled "a masterpiece of erudition and synthesis."

His acceptanceof an award from a UAE absolute monarchy accused of repressionhas, however, been seen to contradicthis avowed principles of freedom of opinionand open debate in a healthy "public sphere."

In a statement to the Spiegel Online news website, Habermasadmittedthat his initial embrace oftheSheikh Zayed Book Award"was a wrong decision," adding that "I didn't sufficiently make clear to myself the very close connection of the institution, which awards these prizes in Abu Dhabi, with the existing political system there."

The philosopher at his home in 1981

Born in Dusseldorf in 1929,Jrgen Habermas ismost closely associated with the city of Frankfurt more specifically, with a school of social and critical theory known as the Frankfurt School.

After earninga doctorate in philosophy in Bonn, in 1964 he took over the chair of philosophy and sociology atthe University of Frankfurt from Max Horkheimer, a position he held until 1971. His postdoctoral thesis from 1961, Strukturwandel der ffentlichkeit (published in English translation in 1989 as The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere), establishes his concept ofthe "public sphere" as asthe domain through which reasoned"public opinion" can be employed to tame the excesses of capitalism.

His updating of Marxist theoryfor the times influenced the 1968 student insurrection; however, when theprotest movement became more radical, the philosopheropenly criticized it.

In his chief work from 1981, Theory of Communicative Action, he developeda theoretical action guide for modern society, which again lookedat how languageand rational argumentation can evolve so thatevery participant is free to take part in democratic discourse.

Habermas inspired the 1968 protests to call for more democracy

But such democratic discourse is routinely shut down inthe country that awardedHabermas his prize,according to Kenneth Roth, Executive Director at Human Rights Watch. Though the UAEis trying to present itself as "a bastion of liberalism,behind the glistening faade is an uglier reality where critics are jailed, the rights of migrant workers are limited, and the ruler of Dubai locks up his adult daughter for wanting to escape life under his thumb."

Latifais one daughter of the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of the Emirate of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed, who saysshe is being held against her will since attempting to leave the country in 2018. Meanwhile, her sister Shamsa has not been seen since 2000 when she was allegedly abducted from Cambridge, England.

A #FreeLatifa campaign gained momentum when video footage of the despairing princess was aired on BBC in February.

This follows a ruling by a UK judge in March 2020, which said the billionaire ruler of Dubai ordered the abduction of his daughters and subjected his estranged wife to a campaign of fear and intimidation.

The day before Habermas declined the UAE award, the #FreeLatifa campaign also fuelled calls to ban Sheikh Mohammed's horsefrom theKentucky Derby.

Habermas' decision to rescind the award comes as the UAE's authoritarian government attempts to contrast human rights concerns in the Gulf nation with a more liberal and tolerant outlook, especially concerningwomen.Dubai is well-known for its celebrity "influencers" who receive tax-free income to promote the UAE'ssun-soaked Persian Gulfcity. As theoil-rich UAE has also become a generous patron of arts and culture in recent times,theSheikh Zayed Book Award itself is typically pitched asembodying "the values of tolerance, knowledge and creativity while building bridges between cultures."

When Habermas initially accepted the award, Spiegel Onlinequestioned why the greatest German thinker of the last 50 years hadn'tsimply turned it down.

"With this world-class thinker who has stood for the Enlightenment project and critical distance from power for more than half a century, it should be possible to answer the question [of whether to accept the award] with a resounding 'no,'" wrote SpiegelOnline on Sunday.

Habermashad first said he hoped the award would provide a "tailwind" for the "dissemination of books" in the region that, like his, similarlypromotefreedom of opinionand democracy. He also statedthat he had sought advice from Jrgen Boos, the managing director of the Frankfurt Book Fair who also sits on the committee that adjudicates the Sheikh Zayed Book Award. He addedthat Boos had "dispelled concerns that are obvious."

Boos said in a statement to DW that he was disappointed that Habermas declined the award.

"Of course, I accept Mr. Habermas' decision,"he said. "However, awarding him this prize would have been an occasion to make his important work and his positions even better known in the Arab cultural area and thus to promote Arab society's engagement with his work. A significant number of the German philosopher and sociologist's works have been translated into Arabic."

Habermas declined a DW request forcomment.

Once Habermasrescinded the award, some on social media said thatthe philosopher had upheld the spirit of the "public sphere."

"It is good to see Jrgen Habermas, whose scholarship defines the concept of the public sphere, has rejected an award from the UAE on #WorldPressFreedomDay," wrote "independent activist" @LyndonPeters01on Twitter. "With no press freedom in the UAE there is no public sphere. So we should reiterate the calls to #FreeAhmedMansoor," he added, referring to thehuman rights activist who wasjailedfor criticizing the UAE government.

Having lived through the Nazi regime, Habermas was inspired to embolden democracy in Europe and the world through his writings.

The question of how a repetition of how the Holocaust could be prevented was fundamental tohis work. He was ultimatelyinspiredto create complex communication models through which members of a society could aim to balance their different interests.

"Consensual" was the name given to those social models, and the term had an exceptional impact on the Federal Republic of Germany's self-image. Citizens were no longer to receive orders from above; rather, they shouldbe encouraged to intervene in public, to formulate their views openly and include them into a large-scale discussion, one in which everyone would be working towards an acceptable compromise.

A philosopher, writer and professor of political theory: Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) became renowned in the US and worldwide for her works examining revolutions and totalitarian systems, as well as the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, in which she radically questioned traditions and ideologies.

The exhibition "Hannah Arendt and the 20th Century" at Berlin's Deutsches Historisches Museum (DHM) also displays some of her personal belongings. Arendt wouldn't go anywhere without this silver cigarette case. "Like a briefcase, it was a work tool for her," explains exhibition curator Monika Boll. "Smoking was part of her process of getting her thoughts organized."

Hannah Arendt was born on October 14, 1906 in Hanover to politically progressive parents and it was clear that she would pursue university studies. She first studied philosophy, Greek and theology at the University of Marburg under philosopher Martin Heidegger. She had a brief affair with her much older professor. She obtained her PhD from the University of Heidelberg in 1929.

After Hitler came to power in 1933, Hannah Arendt had to leave the country as a Jew. Initially, she worked in Paris for an organization that brought Jewish orphans to Palestine. But in 1940, she fled to the United States when Germany invaded France. In New York, the first point of contact for many emigrants from Europe, she quickly found work as a journalist.

Hannah Arendt was 38 years old in this photo from 1944, taken by renowned photographer Fred Stein. A series of photos from the Fred Stein Archive in Stanfordville, New York were loaned to the Berlin museum for the exhibition. At the time, Arendt was leading a research project for the Conference on Jewish Relations.

Arendt lived as a stateless person in the United States for a long time until she was finally naturalized on December 10, 1951. Emigration from Nazi Germany, the insecurity of exile and her lack of rights as a Jewish migrant in the US were very formative experiences for her. All of this shaped her strong political views, which guided her throughout her life.

In 1961, the magazine "The New Yorker" commissioned Arendt to cover the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, held in Jerusalem. Eichmann was one of the main organizers of the deportation and extermination of the Jews during the Holocaust. Arendt's account on "the banality of evil" caused a storm of indignation.

She was a professor at different universities, including at the University of Chicago from 1963 to 1967, and at the New School for Social Research in New York, where she taught until her death in 1975. Universities were her intellectual home; she was even able to develop her political and philosophical theories in an empty cafeteria, as this photo from 1961-62 shows.

The controversial philosopher did not avoid intellectual disputes. As a thinker and reporter, Hannah Arendt's ideas often led to controversy in her adopted country and in Europe. "Taking a stand was very risky at the time, and she was well aware of that," says curator Monika Boll.

As a well-known reporter and university professor, Hannah Arendt was also part of the US establishment. She was reluctant to pursue social obligations, but she did have a mink cape at hand for official events such as gala dinners or receptions. The fur coat comes from the private collection of her great-niece, Edna Brocke, who donated different items from Arendt's estate to the DHM.

In addition to private photos, personal letters, manuscripts and books, her legendary Minox can also be seen in Berlin. She often used the tiny camera for her work as a reporter and to photograph her friends. The exhibition provides insight into the life and work of the German-American philosopher Hannah Arendt, who died in New York 45 years ago.

Author: Heike Mund (eg)

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Jrgen Habermas, the philosopher who rejected a 225,000 prize - DW (English)