Article: Philosophizing about Europe's Rebirth, dw-world.de
Related: Habermas und Derrida Nach dem Krieg: Die Wiedergeburt Europas, faz.net

"Leading European intellectuals, spear-headed by German philosopher and social theorist Jürgen Habermas and his French colleague Jacques Derrida, joined the bandwagon on Saturday, intimating their thoughts about European identity and the need for a common European foreign policy in newspapers across the continent.

Habermas and Derrida have brought together some of Europe's most distinguished thinkers in an initiative that ensures Europe's intellectuals take part in designing Europe's future.


Italian philosopher and novelist Umberto Eco, Swiss author and president of the German Academy of Arts Adolf Muschg, Spanish philosopher Fernando Savater and Italian philosopher Gianni Vattimo have laid out their ideas on the issues. American philosopher Richard Rorty has also provided his two cents in a response to Habermas' article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

In an essay written by Habermas, co-signed by Derrida and published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper on Saturday, the two philosophers called on the "avant-garde" core of European states to return to European enlightenment values.

Habermas and Derrida said their essay was a response to the "Letter of Eight," in which eight European countries, led by Great Britain and Spain, published an open declaration supporting the U.S. stance on Iraq in late January."