Jurgen Habermas' construction of a critical social theory of society grounded in communicative reason is one of few real philosophical inventions of recent times that demands and repays extended engagement. In this study, which places Habermas' project in the context of critical theory as a whole past and future, J.M. Bernstein argues that despite its undoubted achievements, it contributes to the very problems of ethical dislocation and meaninglessness it aims to diagnose and remedy. Bernstein further argues that the precise character of the failures of Habermas' programme demonstrates the...