The Inclusion of the Other is a collection of essays by Jürgen Habermas

Jürgen Habermas

Jürgen Habermas is a German sociologist and philosopher in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. He is perhaps best known for his theory on the concepts of 'communicative rationality' and the 'public sphere'...

 published in German in 1996 and English in 1998. The essays expand on the ideas on law and democracy first articulated in Habermas's Between Facts and Norms

Between Facts and Norms

Between Facts and Norms is a book on deliberative politics that was published by the German political philosopher, Jürgen Habermas, in 1996. Originally published in 1992 as Faktizität und Geltung, the book is the culmination of Habermas's project that began with The Structural Transformation of the...

. Major topics include the future of the nation-state

Nation-state

The nation state is a state that self-identifies as deriving its political legitimacy from serving as a sovereign entity for a nation as a sovereign territorial unit. The state is a political and geopolitical entity; the nation is a cultural and/or ethnic entity...

, human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

, and deliberative democracy

Deliberative democracy

Deliberative democracy is a form of democracy in which public deliberation is central to legitimate lawmaking. It adopts elements of both consensus decision-making and majority rule. Deliberative democracy differs from traditional democratic theory in that authentic deliberation, not mere...

.

Also in the collection are two essays Habermas wrote in a series with American political philosopher John Rawls

John Rawls

John Bordley Rawls was an American philosopher and a leading figure in moral and political philosophy. He held the James Bryant Conant University Professorship at Harvard University....

 on public reason

Public reason

Public reason refers to a common mode of deliberation that individuals may use for issues of public concern. The concept implicitly excludes certain assumptions or motivations that are considered improper as a basis for public decision making, even as a person may apply them in personal decisions...

 and the overlapping consensus

Overlapping consensus

Overlapping consensus is a term coined by John Rawls in Political Liberalism.The term refers to how supporters of different comprehensive doctrines can agree on a specific form of political organization. These doctrines can include religion, political ideology or morals . However, Rawls is clear...

. Rawls's response is included both with his Collected Papers and the current edition of Political Liberalism.