ABSTRACT
Communicative theory has its origins jointly in American pragmatism and critical theory. The term" communicative theory" is intended to include the group of more specific theories developed primarily by Jiirgen Habermas and Karl-Otto Apel, including the theory of communicative action , the theory of communicative rationality and communicative ethics . There is, underlying these theories, a more basic communicative theory of truth which has its origins in pragmatism. This aspect is more evident in Apel , due mainly to his detailed study of Peirce, than in Habermas.l
But communicative theory is not simply a theory, but a whole approach to both philosophising and social theory. It is, like many movements in theory, such as critical theory itself, not amenable to a precise encapsulation. There are a number of themes , debates , commonalities and differences in the totality of the ongoing movement. Also communicative theory is, in philosophical terms, relatively young and undergoing continuing creative development and refinement. As an instance of this development one should note Seyla Benhabib's recent work Situating the Self as an impressive example of the extension of communicative theory into gender issues and contemporary ethics.2
