Coffee Houses and the development of the Public Sphere Playground - Mark Gallagher
Topic outline
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From Coffee House to MOOCs : Habermas’s Theory of the Public Sphere
In this Moodle sandpit I would like to explore with you the history and enduring cultural significance of the London Coffee house from just prior to the the restoration of Charles II in 1660 to the beginning of the 19th century. This is the epoch which the Frankfurt School philosopher Jürgen Habermas identified with the emergence of a bourgeois public sphere of private individuals and a remarkable cultural, literary and educational effervescence. Is Habermas's conception of the public sphere still relevant to online discourse, education and knowledge creation?
In keeping with the metaphor of the coffee house this sandpit will be structured online in a way analogous to the London coffee house.
What News? This was the common refrain of the coffee house habitués as a stranger arrived and marks them out as a very different entity from today's anodyne chain coffee houses where if you sat beside a stranger and asked this question (in London) you may get more than a queer look. In What News below we can post on our reading and thinking around the coffee house. Anyone can post here. As was the case at Buttons Coffeee House the place to post is into the lions maw!
Pamphlet table. This is where, gentle readers, the proprietor and your good selves can deposit links, articles and images to inform our debate.
Virtual Coffee Ladies Counter - alas the coffee is only virtual, although the images and words can still be invigorating! A place to find out more about London Coffee culture.
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Post to the Lions Mouth Pamphlet Table Virtual Coffee Ladies Counter