Jurgen Habermas, the philosopher who shaped Germany’s post-war conscience, dies at 96

2026-03-14 - 18:35

Jurgen Habermas, best known for his theory of political consensus-building, shaped the discourse of post-war ⁠Germany more than any other popular intellectual. He died on Saturday, aged 96, in Starnberg, ⁠Germany, the publisher Suhrkamp said. Over the course of seven decades, his public interventions – from searing critiques of fascist thought in the 1950s to more recent warnings against resurgent militarism and nationalism in Germany – steered the country at critical junctions. Not only his...