Karl-Otto Apel (Dusseldorf, March 15, 1922) is a German philosopher. He graduated in Bonn and received his doctorate in Mainz in 1960. Former Professor at Kiel (1962-1969), Saarbrücken (1969-1972) and finally at the University of Frankfurt. Specializing in language and communication, is critical of the current representative hermenéutica.1 with Jürgen Habermas is one of the founders of communication ethics or ethics discurso.2

It is also one of the most influential theorists of the Frankfurt School, from the death of Adorno, in 1969. Reviewer positivist scientism by considering reducer reason, the line defended by the Frankfurt, Apel elaborated work on communicative ethics and was considered as one of the restorers of practical philosophy. Apel's works synthesize elements of both analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, pragmatism, and critical theory of the Frankfurt School.