Post #1109903
2026-04-12 22:19 UTC
Fun piece about coffee's role in prompting liberal thought:
'Coffee houses were not just places where people could gather to drink the newly imported dark liquid; they were debating chambers where people could test their opinions, “penny universities” where they could educate themselves, and social networking hubs where people of different classes could rub shoulders.
'Jurgen Habermas, the social philosopher who died last month, famously argued that coffee houses provided something radically new: a third space, or “bourgeois public sphere”, separate from the state or the home where people of all social ranks could meet and engage in open discussion.'
#coffee https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/how-coffee-houses-brewed-up-a-liberal-world-20260412-p5zn5w.html
Replies (5)
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@the_roamer@mastodonapp.uk 2026-04-13 00:10
@timrichards@aus.social The Fediverse is our coffee house! (Minus the coffee.) #CoffeeHouses #PublicSphere #JürgenHabermas #MastodonCulture
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@Ex_spurt@aus.social 2026-04-12 22:21
@timrichards ...without everything going South like it would in a tavern
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@Sheep_Overboard@infosec.exchange 2026-04-12 22:22
@timrichards From my smattered readings I'd noticed how vibrant those places were a century or two ago and rather envied the times. Nowadays they're most famous for writing on one's computer 😀
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@trib@aus.social 2026-04-13 00:28
@timrichards @davej so it's my coffee addiction that's made me a leftie? I can live with that.
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@NZBarry@mastodon.nz 2026-04-13 12:29
@timrichards Fun fact - Lloyds was a coffee house which spawned an entire system of maritime insurance.