German philosopher Juergen Habermas speaks to journalists in an auditorium of the Philosophical School of Athens on August 6, 2013. LOUISA GOULIAMAKI / AFP
Jürgen Habermas, whose work on communication, rationality and sociology made him one of the world’s most influential philosophers and a key intellectual figure in his native Germany, has died. He was 96.
Habermas’ publisher, Suhrkamp, said he died on Saturday, March 14, in Starnberg, near Munich.
Habermas frequently weighed in on political matters over several decades. His extensive writing crossed the boundaries of academic and philosophical disciplines, providing a vision of modern society and social interaction. His best-known works included the two-volume "Theory of Communicative Action."
He was born with a cleft palate that required repeated operations as a child, an experience that helped inform his later thinking about language.
