Introduction Barbara Fultner Historical and intellectual contexts Max Pensky COMMUNICATIVE RATIONALITY Postmetaphysical thinking Melissa Yates Communicative action and formal pragmatics Barbara Fultner System and lifeworld Joseph Heath Autonomy, agency and the self Joel Anderson MORAL AND POLITICAL THEORY Discourse ethics William Rehg Deliberative democracy Kevin Olson Discourse theory of law Christopher Zurn POLITICS AND SOCIAL CHANGE Civil society and social movements Keith Haysom Cosmopolitan democracy Ciaran Cronin Rationalization, modernity and secularization Eduardo Mendieta Chronology of life and works