Critical theory must therefore combine practical and normative thinking in order to "explain what is wrong with current social reality, identify actors to change it, and provide clear norms for criticism and practical goals for the future."[21] Whereas traditional theory can only mirror and explain reality as it presently is, critical theory's purpose is to change it; in Horkheimer's words the goal of critical theory is "the emancipation of human beings from the circumstances that enslave them
Frankfurt School theorists were explicitly linking up with the critical philosophy of Immanuel Kant, where the term critique meant philosophical reflection on the limits of claims made for certain kinds of knowledge and a direct connection between such critique and the emphasis on moral autonomy – as opposed to traditionally deterministic and static theories of "reality".
Critique, in this Marxian sense, meant taking the ideology of a society – e.g. individual freedom or private property under capitalism – and critiquing it by comparing it with the social reality of that very society – e.g. social inequality and exploitation. The methodology on which Frankfurt School theorists grounded this critique came to be what had before been established by Hegel and Marx, namely the dialectical method.
For their part, Frankfurt School theorists quickly came to realize that a dialectical method could only be adopted if it could be applied to itself
Responding to the intensification of alienation and irrationality in an advanced capitalist society, critical theory is a comprehensive, ideology-critical, historically self-reflective body of theory aiming simultaneously to explain domination and point to the possibilities of bringing about a rational, humane, and free society.
Studies saw a common concern here in the ability of capitalism to destroy the preconditions of critical, revolutionary political consciousness. This meant arriving at a sophisticated awareness of the depth dimension in which social oppression sustains itself. It also meant the beginning of critical theory's recognition of ideology as part of the foundations of social structure.
Horkheimer and Adorno already present in these works many themes that have come to dominate the social thought of recent years; indeed, their exposition of the domination of nature as a central characteristic of instrumental rationality in Western civilization was made long before ecology and environmentalism had become a popular concerns.
This intention must be oriented toward integral freedom and happiness
a crtique of Adorno and Horkheimer's Dialectic of Enlightenment says: Enlightenment hopes and Holocaust horrors are fatally entangled..... i think, this bit was worded confusingly. but i wonder if this critique hold much power on the cusp of the possibility of a global society. if EVERYONE were considered equal, there couldnt be a holocaust..?
and lastly a list of names that might be worth reading:
Original members of the Frankfurt School were:
"Second generation" Frankfurt School theorists include:
- Max Horkheimer
- Theodor W. Adorno
- Herbert Marcuse
- Friedrich Pollock
- Erich Fromm
- Otto Kirchheimer
- Leo Löwenthal
- Oskar Negt
- Franz Leopold Neumann
People who were temporarily associated with the Institute for Social Research and Frankfurt School theorists include:
No comments:
Post a Comment