Habermas, Jürgen (1929– )

German social theorist, a member of the Frankfurt school. His central concern is how a meaningful engagement in politics and society is possible in a society dominated by science and the technology and bureaucracy based on it.

In Theorie und Praxis/Theory and Practice (1963) and Erkenntnis und Interesse/Knowledge and Human Interest (1968), he argues that reason, which had long been a weapon of intellectual and political freedom, has been appropriated by science. Far from being a disinterested pursuit of knowledge, it is an instrument for achieving a range of unquestioned social and political ends. In Theory of Communicative Action (1981) he describes how a ‘communicative rationality’ can be developed, reclaiming lost ground and allowing rational political commitment.