Habermas Commentary/Topics/Linguistification

Habermas first defines “linguistification of the sacred” on TCA2 p. 77. There, it means that people’s behavior or thinking ceases to be guided by fears of the sacred, and instead becomes guided by criticizable validity claims. This, he thinks, is an improvement: the sacred becomes “sublimated” into those validity claims. Basically, you stop behaving as you are told by norms that are protected by unquestionable sacred authority, and instead you experience a release or freeing of the potential for rational, communicative action.