Books

The Lure of Technocracy

– The Lure of Technocracy. Translated by Ciaran Cronin. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2015; German: Im Sog der Technokratie: Kleine politische Schriften XII. Suhrkamp Verlag, 2013.
From the publisher: Over the past 25 years, Jürgen Habermas has presented what is arguably the most coherent and wide-ranging defence of the project of European unification and of parallel developments towards a politically integrated world society. In… More

The Crisis of the European Union: A Response

– The Crisis of the European Union: A Response. Translated by Ciaran Cronin. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2012; German: Zur Verfassung Europas: Ein Essay. Suhrkamp Verlag, 2011.
From the publisher: In the midst of the current crisis that is threatening to derail the historical project of European unification, Jürgen Habermas has been one of the most perceptive critics of the ineffectual and evasive responses to the global financial… More

Europe: The Faltering Project

– Europe: The Faltering Project. Translated by Ciaran Cronin. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2009; German: Ach Europa: Kleine politische Schriften XI. Suhrkamp Verlag, 2008.
From the publisher: The future of Europe and the role it will play in the 21st century are among the most important political questions of our time. The optimism of a decade ago has now faded but the stakes are higher than ever. The way these questions are… More

Between Naturalism and Religion

– Between Naturalism and Religion. Translated by Ciaran Cronin. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2008; German: Zwischen Naturalismus und Religion. Suhrkamp Verlag, 2005.
From the publisher: Two countervailing trends mark the intellectual tenor of our age the spread of naturalistic worldviews and religious orthodoxies. Advances in biogenetics, brain research, and robotics are clearing the way for the penetration of an… More

The Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion

– Habermas, Jurgen and Joseph Ratzinger. The Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion. Translated by Brian McNeil. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2007; German: Dialektik der Säkularisierung: Über Vernunft und Religion. Verlag Herder, 2005.
From the publisher: Two of the worlds great contemporary thinkers–theologian and churchman Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, and Jurgen Habermas, philosopher and Neo-Marxist social critic–discuss and debate aspects of secularization, and… More

The Divided West

– The Divided West. Edited and translated by Ciaran Cronin. London: Polity Press, 2006; German: Der gespaltene Westen: Kleine politische Schriften X. Suhrkamp Verlag, 2004.
From the publisher: Make no mistake, the normative authority of the United States of America lies in ruins. Such is the judgment of the most influential thinker in Europe today reflecting on the political repercussions of the war in Iraq. The decision to go… More

The Future of the Human Nature

– The Future of the Human Nature. Translated by Hella Beister and William Rehg. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2002; German: Die Zukunft der menschlichen Natur: Auf dem Weg zu einer liberalen Eugenik? Suhrkamp Verlag, 2001.
From the publisher: Recent developments in biotechnology and genetic research are raising complex ethical questions concerning the legitimate scope and limits of genetic intervention. As we begin to contemplate the possibility of intervening in the human… More

Time of Transitions

– Time of Transitions. Edited by Ciaran Cronin. London: Polity Press, 2004; German: Zeit der Übergänge. Kleine politische Schriften IX. Suhrkamp Verlag, 2001.
From the publisher: We live in a time of turbulent change when many of the frameworks that have characterized our societies over the last few centuries – such as the international order of sovereign nation-states – are being called into question. In this… More

Truth and Justification

– Truth and Justification. Translated by Barbara Fultner. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003; German: Wahrheit und Rechtfertigung: Philosophische Aufsätze. Suhrkamp Verlag, 1999.
From the publisher: Jurgen Habermas has developed the theory of communicative action primarily in the context of critical social and political theory and discourse ethics. The essays collected in this volume, however, focus on the theory’s implications… More

On the Pragmatics of Communication

– On the Pragmatics of Communication. Edited by Maeve Cooke. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1998.
From the publisher: Jürgen Habermas’s program in formal pragmatics fulfills two main functions. First, it serves as the theoretical underpinning for his theory of communicative action, a crucial element in his theory of society. Second, it contributes… More

The Postnational Constellation

– The Postnational Constellation. Edited and translated by Max Pensky. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001; German: Die postnationale Konstellation: Politische Essays. Suhrkamp Verlag, 1998.
From the publisher: Does a global economy render the traditional nation-state obsolete? Does globalization threaten democratic life, or offer it new forms of expression? What are the implications of globalization for our understanding of politics and of… More

The Liberating Power of Symbols

– The Liberating Power of Symbols. Translated by Peter Dews. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001; German: Vom sinnlichen Eindruck zum symbolischen Ausdruck: Philosophische Essays. Suhrkamp Verlag, 1997.
From the publisher: In this collection, Jurgen Habermas engages with a wide range of twentieth-century thinkers. The essays display Habermas’s appreciation for various intellectual traditions, his ability to distill the essence of other authors’… More

The Inclusion of the Other

– The Inclusion of the Other. Edited by Ciaran P. Cronin and Pablo de De Greiff. Translated by Ciaran P. Cronin. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1998; German: Die Einbeziehung des Anderen. Studien zur politischen Theorie. Suhrkamp Verlag, 1996.
From the publisher: Since its appearance in English translation in 1996, Jurgen Habermas’s Between Facts and Norms has become the focus of a productive dialogue between German and Anglo-American legal and political theorists. The present volume… More

The Berlin Republic: Writings on Germany

– The Berlin Republic: Writings on Germany. Translated by Steven Rendall. University of Nebraska Press, 1997; German: Die Normalität einer Berliner Republik. Kleine politische Schriften VIII. Suhrkamp Verlag, 1995.
From the publisher: A Berlin Republic brings together writings on the new, united Germany by one of that country’s most original and trenchant commentators, Jürgen Habermas. Among other topics, Habermas addresses the consequences of German history, the… More

Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy

– Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy. Translated by William Rehg. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1996; German: Faktizität und Geltung. Beiträge zur Diskurstheorie des Rechts und des demokratischen Rechtsstaats. Suhrkamp Verlag, 1992; 2nd edition 1994.
From the publisher: 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… More

Justification and Application: Remarks on Discourse Ethics

– Justification and Application: Remarks on Discourse Ethics. Tranlsated by Ciaran P. Cronin. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1994; German: Erläuterungen zur Diskursethik. Suhrkamp Verlag, 1991.
From the publisher: This collection of four essays and an interview contains Habermas’s most recent contributions to ethical theory. It expands and clarifies the work on discourse ethics presented in Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action. Here,… More

The Past as Future

– The Past as Future. Translated and edited by Max Pensky. Omaha, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1994; German: Vergangenheit als Zukunft. Pendo-Verlag, 1990.
From the publisher: Jürgen Habermas is one of the best-known and most influential philosophers in Europe today. Heir to the Frankfurt school, his reputation rests on more than thirty years of groundbreaking works on society knowledge, history, technology;… More

Postmetaphysical Thinking

– Postmetaphysical Thinking. Translated by William Mark Hohengarten. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1994; German: Nachmetaphysisches Denken. Suhrkamp, 1988.
From the publisher:  This collection of Habermas’s recent essays on philosophical topics continues the analysis begun in The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity. In a short introductory essay, he outlines the sources of twentieth-century… More

On the Pragmatics of Social Interaction: Preliminary Studies in the Theory of Communicative Action

– On the Pragmatics of Social Interaction: Preliminary Studies in the Theory of Communicative Action. Translated by Barbara Fultner. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001; German: Vorstudien und Ergänzungen zur Theorie des kommunicativen Handelns. Suhrkamp Verlag, 1984.
From the publisher: In 1971 Jürgen Habermas delivered the Gauss Lectures at Princeton University. These pivotal lectures, entitled “Reflections on the Linguistic Foundation of Sociology,” anticipate The Theory of Communicative Action and offer an… More

Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action

– Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action. Translated by Christian Lenhardt and Shierry Weber Nicholsen. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001; German: Moralbewußtsein und kommunikatives Handeln. Suhrkamp, 1983.
From the publisher: This long-awaited book sets out the implications of Habermas’s theory of communicative action for moral theory. “Discourse ethics” attempts to reconstruct a moral point of view from which normative claims can be… More

Theory of Communicative Action, Vol. II — Lifeworld and System: A Critique of Functionalist Reason

– Theory of Communicative Action, Volume II, Lifeworld and System: A Critique of Functionalist Reason. Translated by Thomas McCarthy. Boston: Beacon Press, 1985; German: Zur Kritik der funktionalistischen Vernunft. Suhrkamp, 1981.
From the publisher: Jurgen Habermas opens Volume 2 with a brilliant reinterpretation of Mead and Durkheim and then develops his own approach to society, combining two hitherto competing paradigms, “system” and “lifeworld.” The strength… More

Theory of Communicative Action, Vol. I — Reason and the Rationalization of Society

– Theory of Communicative Action, Volume I, Reason and the Rationalization of Society. Translated by Thomas McCarthy. Boston: Beacon Press, 1984; German: Handlungsrationalität und gesellschaftliche Rationalisierung. Suhrkamp, 1981.
From the Times Literary Supplement: A major contribution to contemporary social theory. Not only does it provide a compelling critique of some of the main perspectives in 20th century philosophy and social science, but it also presents a systematic synthesis… More

Communication and the Evolution of Society

– Communication and the Evolution of Society. Tranlsated by Thomas McCarthy. Boston: Beacon Press, 1979; German: Zur Rekonstruktion des Historischen Materialismus. Suhrkamp, 1976.
From the publisher: Some thirty years ago Jürgen Habermas introduced the idea of analyzing contemporary society from a historical and practical standpoint while remaining faithful to the canons of empirical science. Although the general features of this idea… More

Legitimation Crisis

– Legitimation Crisis. Translated by Thomas McCarthy. Boston: Beacon Press, 1975; German: Legitimationsprobleme im Spätkapitalismus. Suhrkamp, 1973.
From the publisher: Critical Theory originated in the perception by a group of German Marxists after the First World War that the Marxist analysis of capitalism had become deficient both empirically and with regard to its consequences for emancipation, and… More

Theory and Practice

– Theory and Practice. Translated by John Viertel. Boston: Beacon Press, 1988; German: Theorie und Praxis. Suhrkamp, 1971.
From the publisher: Theory and Practice is one of Habermas’s major works and is widely recognized as a classic in contemporary and social and political theory. Through a series of highly original historical studies, Habermas reexamines the relations… More

On the Logic of the Social Sciences

– On the Logic of the Social Sciences. Translated by Shierry Weber Nicholsen and Jerry A. Stark. Boston: MIT Press, 1990; German: Zur Logik der Sozialwissenschaften. Suhrkamp, 1970.
From the publisher: For two decades the German edition of this book has been a standard reference point for students of the philosophy of the social sciences in Germany. Today it still stands as a unique and masterful guide to the major problems and… More

Knowledge and Human Interests

– Knowledge and Human Interests. Translated by Jeremy Shapiro. Boston: Beacon Press, 1972; German: Erkenntnis und Interesse. Suhrkamp, 1969.

Toward a Rational Society: Student Protest, Science, and Politics

– Toward a Rational Society: Student Protest, Science, and Politics. Translated by Jeremy Shapiro. Boston: Beacon Press, 1971; German: Protestbewegung und Hochschulreform. Suhrkamp, 1969.
From the publisher: Knowledge, communication, action – These are the concepts central to all of Habermas’s thought. As a philosopher, he is concerned with the rational connections of these concepts. As a sociologist, he is prepared to analyze with… More

The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society

– The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Translated by Thomas Burger. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1991; German: Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit. Luchterhand, 1962.
From the publisher: This is Jurgen Habermas’s most concrete historical-sociological book and one of the key contributions to political thought in the postwar period. It will be a revelation to those who have known Habermas only through his theoretical… More