ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the basic argument of Between Facts and Norms, to highlight its links back to Habermas's earlier work, and to underline its contemporary relevance. It highlights the summary of Habermas's understanding of the role of the philosopher in contemporary society. The legal system of a dictatorship may be as consistent as that of a democracy, and a legal system based upon apartheid as formally consistent as one grounded in the recognition of universal human rights. Law and morality can be distinguished in terms of three characteristics: autonomy, scope and reasoning. Modern law, has at its core the notion of negative rights. The sovereign may be interpreted as the author of positive law, or as the enactor of natural law. The task of a critical theory is to pose the questions that capitalism finds unpalatable. Quite early in his career he suggested that no post-Hegelian philosophy can be neutral with respect to the dominant capitalist ideology.
