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 much of their work has attempted to deepen and extend it in new circumstances. Yet much of this revision has been in the form of piecemeal modification. In his latest work, Habermas has returned to the study of capitalism, incorporating the distinctive modifications of the Frankfurt School into the foundations of the critique of capitalism. Drawing on both systems theory and phenomenological sociology as well as Marxism, the author distinguishes four levels of capitalist crisis - economic, rationality, legitimation, and motivational crises. In his analysis, all the Frankfurt focus on cultural, personality, and authority structures finds its place, but in a systematic framework. At the same time, in his sketch of communicative ethics as the highest stage in the internal logic of the evolution of ethical systems, the author hints at the source of a new political practice that incorporates the imperatives of evolutionary rationality.

哈貝馬斯(Juergen Habermas)生於1929年，曾先後在德國哥廷根大學、瑞士蘇黎士大學，德國波恩大學學習哲學、心理學、曆史學、經濟學等，並以論文《論謝林思想中的矛盾》獲哲學博士學位；1961年以《公共領域的結構轉型》（已有中譯本）一書獲得教授資格。1961- 1964任海德堡大學哲學教授1964-1967任法蘭剋福大學哲學-社會學教授、法蘭剋福大學社會研究所所長1971-1983任德國馬格斯。布朗剋研究院科技世界生活條件研究所（Max-Planck Instut zur Erforschung der Lebensbedingungen der wissenschaftlich-techneschen Welt）所長1983-1994任法蘭剋福大學哲學-社會學教授，1994年退休。

退休後仍然從事研究、著述和學術政治活動。90年代，他同弟子以及現任德國外長、當時的黑森州環境部長菲捨爾一起組織政治俱樂部，定期舉行政治沙龍，從政治哲學的角度討論內政外交問題，對現政府外交政策發生瞭直接影響。有人認為，德國提齣的歐盟改革的一攬子計劃的建議就同哈貝馬斯的話語政治模式有內在的聯係。1998年德國大選中，哈貝馬斯在關鍵時刻為社會民主黨大造輿論，提供理論支持。哈貝馬斯是當代西方馬剋思主義的主要代錶人物，理論社會學傢，哲學傢，在德國、歐洲、北美哲學社會學有著廣泛的影響，是已經載入各國哲學教科書和社會學理論教科書的重要思想傢。他是一為多産作傢，幾乎每一兩年就有重要著作問世。90年代有人曾說過，哈貝馬斯的每一本著作的齣版都是哲學界的一件大事。