Jürgen Habermas 
On the Pragmatics of Communication 

This volume brings together Habermas’s key writings on language and
communication. Including some classic texts as well as new material
which is published here for the first time, this book is a detailed
and up-to-date introduction to Habermas’s formal pragmatics, which
is a vital aspect of his social theory.

Written from 1976 to 1996, the essays show the extent to which
formal pragmatics underpins Habermas’s theory of communicative
action. They are presented in chronological order, so that the
reader can trace developments and revisions in Habermas’s thought.
The volume includes a critical discussion of Searle’s theory of
meaning, and Richard Rorty’s neopragmatism. It concludes with
Habermas’s recent defence of his theory of communicative action, in
which he reaffirms his view that interpretative understanding
inescapably involves evaluation.

This book will be an indispensable text for students and
academics who want a clear and accessible introduction to the
development of Habermas’s theory of communication and its relation
to his broader social and political theory.

Table of Content

Introduction: Maeve Cooke.

1. What is Universal Pragmatics? (1976).

2. Social Action, Purposive Activity, and Communication
(1981).

3. Communicative Rationality and the Theories of Meaning and
Action (1986).

4. Actions, Speech Acts, Linguistically Mediated Interactions,
and the Lifeworld (1988).

5. Comments on John Searle’s ‘Meaning, Communication, and
Representation’ (1988).

6. Toward a Critique of the Theory of Meaning (1988).

7. Some Further Clarifications of the Concept of Communicative
Rationality (1996).

8. Richard Rorty’s Pragmatic Turn (1996).

9. On the Distinction between Poetic and Communicative Uses of
Language (1985).

10. Questions and Counterquestions (1985).

Selected Bibliography and Further Reading.

Index.

About the author

Jurgen Habermas is Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of Frankfurt.