This is the first systematic assessment of the work of Jrgen Habermas – the key theorist of the later Frankfurt School, whose writing has had a major impact on social theory and sociology. These four volumes comprise the key secondary literature on Habermas. Edited by David Rasmussen and James Swindal, leading commentators on Habermas's work, this will be the standard reference work on one of the canonical theorists of the 20th century.

VOLUME ONE: THE FOUNDATIONS OF HABERMAS'S PROJECT

Habermas as a Critical Theorist \ Habermas, Hermeneutics and Critical Theory \ The Modernity/Postmodernity Debate

VOLUME TWO: LAW AND POLITICS

Law and Democratic Theory \ The Public Sphere \ Culture and Society

VOLUME THREE: ETHICS

Discourse Ethics \ Rethinking Discourse Ethics \ Autonomy and Authenticity

VOLUME FOUR: COMMUNICATIVE RATIONALITY, FORMAL PRAGMATICS, SPEECH ACT ...

Editors' Introduction

DavidM.Rasmussen & JamesSwindal

Part One: The Foundations of the Habermas Project

In this volume we use the term ‘foundations’ in a somewhat expansive way to cover the secondary literature that begins with Habermas's early development as Adorno's assistant and ends with his reflections on the nature of modernity. It includes his development of the theory of communicative action as well as his reflective movement from the philosophy of consciousness to the philosophy of language. If we were to take one theme that sums up this volume it is Habermas's development as a critical theorist in relationship to the prior development of critical theory. Hence, the first section considers that theme exclusively while the later sections on hermeneutics and critical theory, communicative action, and the modernity/post-modernity ...

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