 One important controversy about the consequences of Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics, then, concerns whether it offers a basis for the critique of ideology. This concern is raised with emphasis by the critical theorist Jürgen Habermas. Habermas, building on Hegel, Marx and Engels, as well as his original theory of recognition and communication, maintains that an ideology is a nexus of political doctrines, beliefs, and attitudes that distort the political realities they purport to describe. Accordingly, ideologies reinforce equally distorted power relations that, in turn, prevent the openness of discussion that is necessary for legitimate democratic political deliberation and decision-making (see Sypnowich 2019, Sec. 2). In view of this, one purpose of critical theory is to establish a basis to critique ideology. Habermas and other critical theorists sought a basis of critique with the ability to expose even some of our most cherished political doctrines, beliefs, and attitudes as ideological distortions that result from forms of domination passed down from tradition.