Popper to Aron: letter on Adorno and Habermas

Image of the letter and a transcription below:

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Fallowfield, Manor Road, Penn, Buckinghamshire, England.

April 28th, 1970

Dear Professor Aron,

Many thanks for your letter of April 15th.

I can only say that when I read either Adorno or Habermas, I feel as if lunatics were speaking.

I have translated some of their German sentences into simple German. It turns out to be either trivial or tautological or sheer pretentious nonsense. I completely fail to see why Habermas is reputed to have “talent”. I do not think that he was born less intelligent than other people; but he certainly did not have the good sense to resist the influence of a pretentious, lying, and intelligence destroying University education.

Sociology is in a bad way — even here in England. There seems to be an interesting law: bad and pretentious language drives out good and simple language. And once human language is destroyed, we shall return to the beasts. I have, in fact, written a very brief reply to Adorno-Habermas. I have not published it, but I may one day.

Many thanks again for writing to me.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Karl Popper

Related: Karl Popper on science versus pseudo-science, in the Philosophers, Explained series.

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