The article examines the influence of life course and historical time on the work of the German philosopher and sociologist Jürgen Habermas. Their connection to philosophical bases of his theory of communicative action and ethics of discourse is traced. The differences in solving the problem of the subject of history in the critical theory of Habermas, society and in the original version of this theory by M. Horkheimer and T.W. Adorno are reviewed. The socio-historical grounds and consequences for the development of discourse ethics are analyzed. Discussed are also differences in the discourse ethics of J. Habermas and K.-O. Apel, Habermas controversy with the theorist of social systems N. Luhmann on philosophical problems of the theory of society.