He studied mathematics and physics at Berlin and Kiel, then philosophy and sociology at Heidelberg and Frankfurt. He was an assistant to Jürgen Habermas at the University of Frankfurt from 1966 to 1970. He has held Professorships at the Universität Konstanz (1974–1990), the New School for Social Research and at the Freie Universität Berlin (1990 until his retirement in 2001). He has held guest Professorships at Haverford, Stony Brook, Collège International de Philosophie, the New School of Social Research and the University of Amsterdam.

In 2006 he received the Theodor W. Adorno Award, a prestigious award for achievement in philosophy, theatre, music, and film. In 2011 he received the Anna-Krüger-Preis of the Berlin Institute for Advanced Study.

His works include books and articles about Aesthetics, Music, Critical Theory, Ethics, Modernity, and Postmodernity as well as thinkers such as Adorno, Habermas, Rorty, and Wittgenstein.

From 1965 to 1981 Albrecht Wellmer was married to Ilse von Neander. He is the father of composer and artist Anne Wellmer. Albrecht Wellmer's grave is at Alter St. Matthäus Kirchhof in Berlin.

• List of works by Albrecht Wellmer at the Open Library
• Albrecht Wellmer's Homepage
• List of articles by Albrecht Wellmer at PhilPapers
• Article by Albrecht Wellmer on Richard Rorty: 'Rereading Rorty', Krisis, 2008, 2
• Albrecht Wellmer – Adorno and the Difficulties of a Critical Reconstruction of the Historical Present - free MP3 audio recording of Wellmer from November 2009
• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 03.07.2006
• Anna-Krueger-Preis des Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin, 04.05.2011
• Tagesspiegel, 18.9.2018
• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 18.9.2018