Jürgen Habermas

The Theory of Communicative Action

Vol. I: Reason and the Rationalization of Society, Vol. II: Lifeworld and Systems, a Critique of Functionalist Reason
U1 for The Theory of Communicative Action
Suhrkamp | Insel
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Jürgen Habermas
The Theory of Communicative Action / Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns
Vol. I: Reason and the Rationalization of Society, Vol. II: Lifeworld and Systems, a Critique of Functionalist Reason
The Theory of Communicative Action is a key work in Jürgen Habermas’s oeuvre. In this book, Habermas seeks to lay the foundations for critical social theory. The notion of communicative action opens a path to three interlinked thematic complexes: the concept of communicative rationality, a two-level concept of society that links the paradigms of action and system, and a theoretical approach that explains the paradoxes of modernity by subordinating the communicatively structured...
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The Theory of Communicative Action is a key work in Jürgen Habermas’s oeuvre. In this book, Habermas seeks to lay the foundations for critical social theory. The notion of communicative action opens a path to three interlinked thematic complexes: the concept of communicative rationality, a two-level concept of society that links the paradigms of action and system, and a theoretical approach that explains the paradoxes of modernity by subordinating the communicatively structured lifeworld to the imperative, independent, formally organized systems of action.
1981, 1216 pages
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Persons

Jürgen Habermas

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Jürgen Habermas was born in Düsseldorf in 1929. From 1949 to 1954, he studied philosophy, history, psychology, German literature, and economy in Göttingen, Zurich, and Bonn. He taught at the universities of Heidelberg and Frankfurt as well as at the University of California, Berkeley, and was director of the Max Plank Institute for the Study of the Scientific-Technical World. He was the recipient of numerous honorary doctorates and awards, including the 2001 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade amd the 2004 Kyoto Prize. He passed away on March 14, 2026, in Starnberg.

Jürgen Habermas was born in Düsseldorf in 1929. From 1949 to 1954, he studied philosophy, history, psychology, German literature, and economy...

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OTHER PUBLICATIONS

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Things Needed to Improve…
Year of Publication: 2024
Jürgen HabermasYear of Publication: 2024

Things Needed to Improve…

»I view the attempt to make the world even the tiniest bit better, or even just to be part of the effort to stave off the constant threats of regression that we face, as an utterly admirable...
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A New Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere and Deliberative Politics
Year of Publication: 2022
Year of Publication: 2022

A New Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere and Deliberative Politics

The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, Jürgen Habermas’ first book, was published in 1962. In it, he profiles a concept of the public sphere from a...

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English world rights (Polity), Spanish world rights (Trotta), Catalan rights (Edicions 62), Chinese simplex rights (CITIC Press), Chinese complex rights (Rye Field Publications), Russia (NLO), Portuguese rights (Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian), Brazilian Portuguese rights (UNESP), France (Gallimard), Italy (Cortina), Netherlands (Boom), Denmark (Samfundslitteratur), Sweden (Daidalos), Norway (Cappelen Damm Akademisk), Korea (Sechang), Japan (Iwanami Shoten), Bulgaria (KX – Critique and Humanism), Croatia (Politička Misao), Serbia (Kontrast), Turkey (Iletisim), Greece (Crete UP), Albania (Dukagjini)

Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (John Verlag)

This Too a History of Philosophy
Year of Publication: 2019
Jürgen HabermasYear of Publication: 2019

This Too a History of Philosophy

The new book by Jürgen Habermas is also a history of philosophy. Employing a genealogical style it examines how today’s dominant forms of western post-metaphysical thought came into being. Using...

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English world rights (Polity), Spanish world rights (Trotta), Chinese simplex rights (Social Sciences Academic Press), Brazilian Portuguese rights (UNESP), Portuguese rights (Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian), Arabic world rights (Al-Kamel), France (Gallimard), Italy (Feltrinelli), Korea (Nanam), Poland (Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego)

Domestic Rights Sales: German Book Club (wbg)

The Lure of Technocracy
Year of Publication: 2013
Year of Publication: 2013

The Lure of Technocracy

Since 1980, this series of Short Political Writings has collected Jürgen Habermas’s analyses, commentaries and diagnoses of the times. Titles such as The New Obscurity have long...
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English world rights (Polity), Spanish world rights (Trotta), Chinese simplex rights (China Renmin UP), Albania (Asdreni)

Previously published in the respective language/territory; rights available again: Italy (Laterza)

Postmetaphysical Thinking II
Year of Publication: 2012
Year of Publication: 2012

Postmetaphysical Thinking II

»There is no alternative to post-metaphysical thinking.« This statement, made by Jürgen Habermas in his 1988 collection of essays, Post-Metaphysical Thinking, is still valid...
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English world rights (Polity), Spanish world rights (Trotta), Chinese simplex rights (Yilin), Brazilian Portuguese rights (UNESP), France (Gallimard), Italy (Laterza), Korea (Nanam), Croatia (Naklada Breza)

The Crisis of the European Union
Year of Publication: 2011
Year of Publication: 2011

The Crisis of the European Union

»In the face of a politically unregulated rise in global social complexity which systemically and increasingly restricts the autonomy of the nation state, the normative function of democracy...
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Chinese simplex rights (Shanghai People's Publishing House), Russia (Ves Mir), Brazilian Portuguese rights (UNESP), Portugal (Ediçoes 70), France (Gallimard)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: English world rights (Polity), Spanish world rights (Trotta), Italy (Laterza), Netherlands (Klement), Sweden (Ersatz), Japan (Hosei UP), Poland (Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego), Czech Republic (Filosofia), Slovakia (Kalligram), Hungary (Atlantisz), Bulgaria (Critique & Humanism), Romania (comunicare.ro), Latvia (Zinatne), Bosnia (Fondacija Centar za javno pravo), Greece (Patakis), Albania (Asdreni)

Collected Philosophical Essays in Five Volumes
Year of Publication: 2009
Jürgen HabermasYear of Publication: 2009

Collected Philosophical Essays in Five Volumes

Philosopher and sociologist Jürgen Habermas has celebrated his 80th birthday on June 18, 2009. For this occasion, he has put together a systematic selection of important texts, some of which have...
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English world rights (Polity), Spanish world rights (Paidos), Portuguese rights (Edicoes 70), Italy (Laterza)

Ach, Europa
Year of Publication: 2008
Year of Publication: 2008

Ach, Europa

Ach, Europa: only the sighing tone remains. Prompted by a discussion with the German Federal Foreign Minister, Jürgen Habermas develops in his address political alternatives for the...
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English world rights (Polity Press), Spanish world rights (Trotta), Russia (Ves Mir), Italy (Laterza), Korea (Nanam), Japan (Iwanami Shoten), Serbia (Belgrade Circle), Greece (Printa), Albania (Asdreni)

Between Naturalism and Religion
Year of Publication: 2005
Year of Publication: 2005

Between Naturalism and Religion

Two conflicting tendencies characterize the intellectual atmosphere of our time: the expansion of a naturalized world picture and religious orthodoxy. On one side, advances in biogenetics,...
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English world rights (Polity Press), Spanish world rights (Paidos), Chinese simplex rights (Shanghai People’s Publishing House), Russia (Ves Mir), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Tempo Brasileiro), France (Gallimard), Italy (Laterza), Sweden (Daidalos), Korea (Nanam), Japan (Hosei UP), Slovenia (Sophia), Bosnia (Ik Tugra), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Greece (Scripta), Albania (Asdreni)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Poland (PWN)

The Divided West
Year of Publication: 2004
Year of Publication: 2004

The Divided West

On 11 September 2001, not only did the Twin Towers crash, but so did the unity of the Western World. The policy of the US-government, that pushes the United Nations to the bottom of the wall...
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English world rights (Polity), Chinese simplex rights (Shanghai Translation), Italy (Laterza), Korea (Nanam), Japan (Hosei UP)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Trotta), Russia (Ves Mir), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Tempo Brasileiro), Bosnia-Herzegovina (Rabic), Turkey (Yapi Kredi), Albania / Macedonia (Asdreni)

Between Facts and Norms
Year of Publication: 1998
Jürgen HabermasYear of Publication: 1998

Between Facts and Norms

In Between Facts and Norms, Jürgen Habermas works out the legal and political implications of his Theory of Communicative Action (1981), bringing to fruition the project announced with his publication of The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere in 1962. This new work is a major contribution to recent debates on the rule of law and the possibilities of...
Postmetaphysical Thinking I
Year of Publication: 1988
Year of Publication: 1988

Postmetaphysical Thinking I

In this new collection of recent essays, Habermas takes up and pursues the line of analysis begun in The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity.


He begins by outlining the sources and...
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USA (MIT Press), UK (Polity), Chinese simplex rights (Yilin), Brazilian Portuguese rights (UNESP), Portuguese rights (Almedina), Italy (Laterza), Korea (Nanam), Japan (Miraisha), Serbia (Belgrade Circle), Ukraine (Ukrainian Philosophical Foundation)

Legitimation Crisis
Year of Publication: 1973
Jürgen HabermasYear of Publication: 1973

Legitimation Crisis

In this hugely influential book, Jurgen Habermas examines the deep tensions and tendencies toward crisis underlying the development of contemporary Western societies and develops a probing analysis...
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USA (Beacon), UK (Polity), Chinese simplex rights (Shanghai People’s Publishing House), France (Payot), Japan (Iwanami Shoten), Thailand (Suan Nguen Mee Ma), Turkey (Albaraka)

Previously published in the respective language/territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Cátedra), Russia (Praxis), Brazilian Portuguese rights (Tempo Brasileiro), Italy (Laterza)

Technology and Science as »Ideology«
Year of Publication: 1968
Jürgen HabermasYear of Publication: 1968

Technology and Science as »Ideology«

New potentials arising from expanded technical capacities reveal the discrepancy between the results of intense rationality and unthinking objectives, rigid value systems, and outdated ideologies....
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Chinese simplex rights (Commercial Press), Portuguese rights (Edições 70), Japan (Heibonsha), Denmark (Reitzels), Turkey (Yapi Kredi)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Tecnos)

The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere
Year of Publication: 1962
Year of Publication: 1962

The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere

»The task of the present study is to analyse the ›bourgeois public sphere‹«. In order to do justice to this complex task, Habermas integrates aspects from studies on sociology, economics,...
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English world rights (Polity), Chinese simplex rights (Social Sciences Academic Press), Spanish world rights (Trotta), Portuguese rights (Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian), Brazilian Portuguese rights (UNESP), France (Payot & Rivages), Italy (Laterza), Netherlands (Boom), Denmark (Informations Forlag), Sweden (Arkiv), Norway (Gyldendal Norsk), Finland (Vastapaino), Korea (Nanam), Malaysia (Penerbit UKM), Czech Republic (Filosofický), Lithuania (Hubris), Turkey (Iletisim), Armenia (Ankyunacar)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Gili), Chinese complex rights (Linking), Russia (Ves Mir), Portuguese rights (Gulbenkian), Japan (Miraisha), Poland (PWN), Hungary (Osiris), Bulgaria (Kliment Ohridski), Bulgarian eBook edition (Projectoria), Romania (Editura Comunicare), Estonia (Kunst), Serbia (Mediterran), Greece (Nesos), Ukraine (Litopys)

 

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News
13.08.2015

Jürgen Habermas and Charles Taylor receive Kluge Prize 2015

We are proud to share with you the news that Jürgen Habermas and Charles Taylor are jointly awarded the Kluge Prize 2015.