Tale til prisvinner professor Habermas ved Holberg-middagen

Statsråd Øystein Djupedals tale til prisvinner professor Habermas ved Holberg-middagen 30. nov. 2005.

Professor Habermas, ladies and gentlemen

On behalf of the Norwegian Government, it is a pleasure for me to host this dinner in celebration of the award of the International Holberg prize 2005. Let me begin by congratulating this year's Holberg laureate - Professor Habermas.

The Holberg International Memorial Prize is awarded annually for excellent scholarly work in the fields of the arts and humanities, social science, law and theology, or interdisciplinary work within these areas. Through the Holberg Prize, the Norwegian government wants to stimulate the interest of young people in these disciplines, and increase society's awareness of the value of research in these fields of research.

The Holberg awards last year and this year have generated great media attention and debate about issues related to science, ethics and philosophy. I hope and believe that such media coverage inspires both animated discussions and quiet contemplation in cafés and around kitchen tables both here in Norway, but also abroad.

The prize is named after the Norwegian/Danish scholar and playwright Ludvig Holberg. Most Scandinavians today know Holberg only as a writer of comedies, such as Jeppe on the Hill and Erasmus Montanus. But, Holberg was mainly a scholar, and the main part of his work was of an academic character.

He was born in Bergen in 1684, and held the Chair of Metaphysics and Logic, Latin Rhetoric and History at the University of Copenhagen. His works have been widely published and have also had a broad readership outside academia. Like Holberg, Habermas is known for his interdisciplinary work. Both Holberg and Habermas have reflected on their identities as Europeans, and they are both internationally oriented in their work.

Jürgen Habermas has been a leading figure in social and cultural sciences for more than 40 years. His works have been translated into more than 20 languages. Habermas covers a broad field of human and social sciences: philosophy, ethics, social theory and sociology, political theory, law and legal theory. He believes in reasoned communication and the force of the better arguments.

Discussion and dialogue are central elements in his research. But Habermas is not only an excellent academic – he applies social and philosophical ideas to current social, cultural and political issues, and has a strong voice in public debates. He not only believes in reasoned communication, he practises it as well! If I may add as a personal comment: I come from a political party where members are known for discussing openly and often loudly. I am very pleased to find such high calibre intellectual support for this practise!

Both Holberg`s and Habermas` philosophy have influenced our societies. In the case of Habermas, we need to look no further than Paragraph 100 in our own Constitution which has to do with freedom of speech. In 2003, this paragraph was amended, partly based on the ideas Habermas has presented on democracy and dialogue. The last subsection of Paragraph 100 now reads like this: "It is the duty of public governing bodies to enable and stimulate open and enlightened public discourse".

Holberg fought for ideas of tolerance and mutual respect among human beings under very different circumstances than ours. His work made a substantial contribution to the abolishment of slavery in the Danish-Norwegian state in 1792, which made Denmark-Norway the first country in the world to do this. Especially influential was his book “Introduction to Natural and International Law”, where he discusses "the natural equality among human beings". Today, we would refer to this as "universal human rights".

As well as playing an important role in bringing the Enlightenment to Scandinavia, Holberg made efforts to modernise the education system and teaching methods. He suggested that teachers should be questioned by their students, not only the other way around, which was the norm in those days. He also believed that teachers should encourage critical thinking among their students. In fact, both Habermas and Holberg would be just the right teachers for the school of my dreams – knowledgeable, inspiring and encouraging of critical thinking!

Now please join me in a toast to the Holberg Laureate 2005, Professor Jürgen Habermas!