Basic Characteristics of Habermas’s Theoretical Oeuvre

Abstract

Jürgen Habermas is one of the few theorists who marked the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century. His theory is reflected in almost all aspects of social life. In this chapter we present the biography of Habermas, the stages of development of his thought, the intellectual and social context in which they occur, etc. The role that Habermas has as a public intellectual is particularly significant. He often appears in public with his opinion on topics that are on the agenda of society. In this chapter we sketch Habermas’s views on some of the most significant issues of recent decades. This chapter also explains the thesis that is developed in the rest of the book that Habermas’s theoretical opus maneuvers between the positions of critical theory and liberal theory, if not otherwise, then by taking into account the positions of these two theories when considering different questions.