There is a particular kind of intellectual courage that consists not of grand gestures or romantic rebellion but of something far more demanding: the stubborn, lifelong insistence that human beings are capable of reasoning their way to a better world. Jürgen Habermas, who died on Saturday at the age of 96 in Starnberg, Germany, possessed that courage in abundance. In an era that has grown increasingly comfortable with irrationalism, tribal identity, and contempt for expertise, his death feels