 He accepted the position of Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of the Scientific-Technical World in Starnberg (near Munich) in 1971, and worked there until 1983, two years after the publication of his magnum opus, "The Theory of Communicative Action".He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1984.Habermas then returned to his chair at Frankfurt and the directorship of the Institute for Social Research.