Comprised of classic and newly--commissioned papers from leading theorists, this volume provides a wide--ranging critical introduction to the thought of Jurgen Habermas. Some contributions explore the relation between Habermasa s philosophy and the thought of major predecessors, including Kant, Hegel, Marx and Heidegger. Others elucidate the political context of Habermasa s thinking, while a final section presents the responses of leading German contemporaries to his work. The result is a more rounded picture of Habermasa s oeuvre and achievement than has previously been available. Habermas emerges as a thinker whose outstanding powers of renewal and innovation are inseparable from his engagement with the major traditions of European thought, and his own intellectual and political context.