This work by Jurgen Habermas - originally published in German in 1967 - is now available in English. This English edition includes several new essays which were published in German during the 1970s and which bring the original text up-to-date. In this wide-ranging work, Habermas presents his views on the nature of the social sciences and their distinctive methodology and concerns. He examines, among other things, the traditional division between the natural sciences and the social sciences; the characteristics of social action and the implications of theories of language for social enquiry; the nature, tasks and limitations of hermeneutics; the strengths and weaknesses of functionalism and systems theory; and the relevance of Popper's views to the philosophy of the social sciences. Habermas' analysis of these and other themes is perceptive and constructive. This study highlights the distinctive characteristics of the social sciences and outlines the nature of, and prospects for, critical theory today.