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Habermas, the German philosopher, studied in Gottingen, Zurich and Bonn and became research assistant under Theodore Adorno at the University of Frankfurt. He held professorships at Frankfurt, Heidelberg and Starnberg. Knowledge and Human Interests (1968) placed him at the forefront of European critical theory. Habermas argued that rationality was located in the structures of interpersonal linguistic communication, rather than within cosmological models or within individuals. Education should have as its primary aim the realisation and development of the human potential for rationality. This manifests itself through speech acts, which have a telos or purpose: mutual understanding. All humans have communicative competence to bring about such understandings. In Theory of Communicative Action (1981) Habermas identifies the origin of modern social and political crises in the onesided processes of rationalisation, directed by financial, administrative and bureaucratic interests. These interfere with purposeful and meaningful acts of communication in the public sphere by interposing instrumental rationalism, reflecting the interests of social formations such as the market or the state. Open and undisturbed linguistic interaction was essential for human development, hence the need to institutionalise the enhancement of communication within the education system. Emancipation and self-determination were other necessary aims for education to ensure that the public sphere – which is the meeting point for free individuals interacting through myriad communicative acts – is strengthened. Habermas’ defence of modern, civil society relates also to ideas of the creation of identities through a person’s ability to engage within a lifeworld that is free from instrumentalist distortions.