In this important book Habermas develops his views on a range ofmoral and ethical issues. Drawing on his theory of communicativeaction, Habermas elaborates an original conception of 'discourseethics', seeking to reconstruct a moral point of view from whichnormative claims can be impartially judged.Habermas connects communicative ethics to the theory of socialaction via an examination of research in the social psychology ofmoral and interpersonal development. He aims to show that our basicmoral intuitions spring from something deeper and more universalthan contingent features of our tradition, namely from normativepresuppositions of social interaction that belong to the repertoireof competent agents in any society.Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action confrontsdirectly a variety of difficult and controversial problems whichare at the centre of current debates in philosophy and social andpolitical theory.

Jürgen Habermas is the author of numerous booksincluding The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity (Polity,1988), The Theory of Communicative Action (Polity, 1988) andPostmetaphysical Thinking (Polity, 1992).

Introduction by Thomas McCarthy.Philosophy as Stand-In and Interpreter.Reconstruction and Interpretation in the Social Sciences.Discourse Ethics: Notes on a Program of PhilosophicalJustification.Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action.Morality and Ethical Life: Does Hegel's Critique of Kant Applyto Discourse Ethics?.Index.