今もなお活躍を続けるユルゲン・ハーバーマス（1929年-）は、ドイツが誇る大きな影響力を持つ哲学者です。本書はハーバーマスが提唱する社会理論の土台となっている考え方を分析し、それが倫理、政治、法にどのように活かされているかを詳しく見ていきます。また、現代の政治的および社会的な問題に対して、ハーバーマスが自らの社会理論と政治理論をもってどのような答えを導き出しているのかを検証します。進化を続けるハーバーマスの理論への格好の入門書です。
   

• Provides a completely up to date and much-needed entry into the long and forbiddingly technical works of the most influential German philosopher alive today
• Covers Habermas's influence on a wide variety of fields, including philosophy, political and social theory, cultural studies, sociology, and literary studies
• Explains how Habermas's ideas are applied to present day social and political situations
• Unlike other writings on Habermas, this explains his intellectual framework and technical vocabulary rather than simply adopting it

  
This book gives a clear and readable overview of the philosophical work of Jürgen Habermas, the most influential German philosopher alive today, who has commented widely on subjects such as Marxism, the importance and effectiveness of communication, the reunification of Germany, and the European Union. 
  
Gordon Finlayson provides readers with a clear and readable overview of Habermas's forbiddingly complex philosophy using concrete examples and accessible language. He then goes on to analyse both the theoretical underpinnings of Habermas's social theory, and its more concrete applications in the fields of ethics, politics, and law; and concludes with an examination how Habermas's social and political theory informs his writing on contemporary, political, and social problems.