Toward a Habermasian Citizenship Education

Abstract In this paper, I argue that there is an ‘educational gap’ in Jürgen Habermas’s political theory that implicitly calls for specific educational interventions but does not specify them, and this gap could be filled by elaborating what I call Habermasian citizenship education (HCE). Drawing on the conceptual resources already introduced by Habermas, HCE aims to foster autonomous citizens who pursue communicative rationality. I consider argumentation competence to be the core competence that characterizes this project and propose a program for developing this competence. Based on some empirical research findings and theoretical considerations of Habermas, small-group discussion that meets certain conditions is the main program of HCE. Small-group discussion for HCE gives students the opportunity to evaluate the arguments of others, advance their own arguments, encounter flawed arguments, and check whether the rules of discourse are followed. In this way, HCE specifically addresses the underdeveloped aspects of Habermas’s vision and strengthens the connection between educational theory and practice.