> ...Habermas argues we can distinguish between two kinds of interests:
> an interest in understanding and an interest in mastery. One is
> practical, the other is technical...
The ancient and medieval West assumed these interests were separate, the latter the concern of slaves, artisans, peasants, etc., the former constituting the liberal (i.e., for the free) arts -- that's what the first line of the Metaphysics refers to. The rise of Galilean science joined them -- understanding leads to mastery (and Faust is the dramatization of the transition). What Science has joined together, let no Habermasian put asunder. --CGE