Jurgen Habermas

Rationality is not a property of isolated subjects but of communicative interaction.

The normative content of modernity is to be found in the ideals of freedom and equality.

The communicative presuppositions of argumentation have a moral content.

The problem of legitimation in advanced capitalism is a problem of meaning.

The universalization principle is implicit in every attempt at rational discourse.

The concept of 'society' itself is undergoing a transformation.

The Internet has the potential to transform the public sphere, but also to fragment it.

We are condemned to communication.

The public sphere is a space of legitimate contestation.

The system replaces communicative action with strategic action.

The normative claims of universalism are rooted in the structure of language itself.

The lifeworld is the background of shared assumptions and understandings.

The problem of secularization is not the disappearance of religion, but its transformation.

The constitutional state is a self-organizing system of communication.

We need to recover the communicative potential of reason.

The concept of 'postmodernity' is a flight from reason.

The crisis of the welfare state is a crisis of legitimation.

The communicative achievements of ordinary language are the starting point for critical theory.

The public sphere is a space of power, but also a space of resistance.

The rationalization of the lifeworld leads to a loss of meaning.