scholarly journals The Dialectical Methods of Marshall McLuhan, Marxism, and Critical Theory

1996 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Grosswiler
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Technological Determinism ◽  
Marshall Mcluhan ◽  
Max Horkheimer ◽  
Dialectical Theory ◽  
Theodor Adorno ◽  
Media Interaction ◽  
Central Argument ◽  
Human Awareness

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to help reclaim McLuhan's media and social / historical theories for critical theory, arguing that McLuhan employed a form of dialectical theory containing basic elements of dialectics developed by Hegel, Marx, and, later, his contemporaries of the Frankfurt School. This essay will examine McLuhan's published writings for analysis of his dialectical methodology and compare his work closely with the work of Walter Benjamin, and the work of Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, lines of inquiry paralleling Judith Stamps's Unthinking Modernity. The central argument is that McLuhan's method, like Marx's radical dialectical method, was not a mechanistic, technological determinism. Instead, McLuhan was mining the interstices of media interaction for openings that allow human awareness and autonomy. This study attempts to reclaim McLuhan by showing that his method was open-ended and processual, not only in his early work, but in the later and posthumous work as well. Résumé: Cet essai cherche à ramener au sein de la théorie critique les théories médiatiques et socio-historiques de McLuhan, en insistant sur le fait que la forme de la théorie dialectique qu'il emploie est basée sur les dialectiques élaborées par Hegel, Marx et plus tard par les contemporains de McLuhan, à savoir les membres de l'Ecole de Francfort. En se penchant sur les écrits publiés de McLuhan, cet essai analyse sa théorie dialectique et procède à une comparaison approfondie de ses oeuvres à celles de Walter Benjamin, Max Horkheimer et Theodor Adorno--une recherche qui nous rappelle Unthinking Modernity de Judith Stamps. L'argument principal est que la méthode de McLuhan, de même que la méthode dialectique radicale de Marx, ne représentait en aucun cas un déterminisme mécaniste et technologique. McLuhan examine plutôt les interstices de l'interaction des médias pour y trouver les ouvertures qui permettraient une conscience humaine et une autonomie plus grandes. Cette étude essaye de revendiquer l'importance des écrits de McLuhan en montrant que sa méthode était sans limites fixes et suivait un processus précis, non seulement dans ses premiers ouvrages, mais également dans son oeuvre mûre et dans ses publications posthumes.

Paul and Philosophy

2020 ◽  
pp. 52-99
Author(s):  
Ole Jakob Løland
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
Intellectual Life ◽  
1 Corinthians ◽  
Theodor Adorno ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Conceptual Revolution

Taubes’s readings of Paul demonstrate a hermeneutical art of disagreement within the intellectual life of post-Holocaust Europe. Taubes is a reader who looks for intellectual enemies with whom he can achieve a true disagreement without dismissing their true insights, whether they are historical or philosophical. This hermeneutic is not unattached to Taubes’s Jewish background but reflects a Talmudic spirit inherent within Taubes’s idiosyncratic readings of Paul. Moreover, Taubes’s readings are attuned to nuances, ambivalences, and contradictions within Paul, as Taubes powerfully demonstrates in his exegesis of 1 Corinthians. With the help of Nietzsche’s polemical reading of this Pauline epistle, Taubes detects the instances where Paul’s doctrine of the cross revolutionizes ancient perceptions and passages that contain the power to neutralize this very same conceptual revolution. This results in Taubes’s image of a contradictory apostle, who can be used throughout history for various purposes. In Taubes’s case, Paul becomes a messianic thinker and part of Taubes’s efforts to establish a powerful synthesis of the insights of Walter Benjamin and Carl Schmitt—against what Taubes considers as the merely aesthetic tradition of “critical theory” in Theodor Adorno that remains indifferent to the historical struggles of the excluded.

1. The Frankfurt School

2017 ◽  
pp. 7-16
Author(s):  
Stephen Eric Bronner
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Herbert Marcuse ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
Erich Fromm ◽  
Max Horkheimer ◽  
History Of ◽  
Inner Circle

‘The Frankfurt School’ provides a brief history of the formation of the Frankfurt School, and biographies of prominent members. The Frankfurt School grew out of the Institute for Social Research, the first Marxist think tank. However, in 1930, under the directorship of Max Horkheimer, the organization moved to America to escape the Nazis, and began to concentrate on critical theory. Aside from Horkheimer, notable members of the Frankfurt School's inner circle included Erich Fromm, Herbert Marcuse, Walter Benjamin, Theodor W. Adorno, and Jürgen Habermas. Each member of the inner circle was different, but they all shared the same concerns, and attempted to solve them through intellectual daring and experimentation.

scholarly journals O problema da pobreza de experiência na formação do professor: desafios da educação inclusiva

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Michelli Agra
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Training ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
General Education ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Bourgeois Society ◽  
Theodor Adorno ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Formación Docente

O presente artigo tem por objetivo discutir os desafios da educação inclusiva, com base no conceito de experiência aplicado à problemática da formação do professor. Utiliza-se como referencial teórico-metodológico, a Teoria Crítica da Sociedade, com base nos autores Theodor Adorno e Walter Benjamin. As considerações giram em torno da argumentação das possíveis causas e efeitos do empobrecimento da experiência na sociedade burguesa capitalista, com a seguinte questão: ‘Para que viver experiências na formação de professor?’ No sentido que se procura expor, a experiência deixa marcas que passam a pertencer à subjetividade do indivíduo, além de potencializar a racionalidade e a autonomia. A educação inclusiva, por sua vez, revela a educação geral e pode contribuir para uma educação que propicie a resistência e a emancipação humana.Palavras-chave: Experiência; Formação do Professor; Educação Inclusiva. The problem of poverty of experience in teacher training: challenges of inclusive educationABSTRACTThis article aims to discuss the challenges of inclusive education, based on the concept of experience applied to the problem of teacher education. The Critical Theory of Society, based on the authors Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin was used as theoretical-methodological reference. Considerations revolve around arguing the possible causes and effects of the impoverishment of experience in capitalist bourgeois society, with the following question: 'Why live experiences in teacher training?' In the sense we seek to expose, experience leaves marks that pass to belong to the subjectivity of the individual, in addition to enhancing rationality and autonomy. Inclusive education, in turn, reveals general education and can contribute to an education that fosters resistance and human emancipation.Keywords: Experience; Teacher Training; Inclusive education. El problema de la pobreza de experiencia en la formación del profesor: desafíos de la educación inclusiva RESUMENEl presente artículo tiene como objetivo discutir los desafíos de la educación inclusiva, basándose en el concepto de experiencia aplicado a la problemática de la formación docente. Se utiliza como referencial teórico-metodológico, la Teoría Crítica de la Sociedad, basándose en autores como Theodor Adorno y Walter Benjamin. Las consideraciones giran alrededor de la argumentación de las posibles causas y efectos del empobrecimiento de la experiencia en la sociedad burguesa capitalista, con la siguiente cuestión: ¿Para qué vivir experiencias en la experiencia en la formación docente? En el sentido en que se busca exponer, la experiencia deja señas que pertenecen a la subjetividad del individuo, además de potenciar la racionalidad y la autonomía. La educación inclusiva, a su vez, revela la educación general y puede contribuir para una educación que favorezca la resistencia y la emancipación humana.Palabras clave: Experiencia; Formación docente; Educación Inclusiva.

scholarly journals A crítica à democracia liberal em Carl Schmitt e Robert Kurz: um estudo comparativo

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 194-210
Author(s):  
David Gonçalves Borges
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
Herbert Marcuse ◽  
Max Horkheimer ◽  
Theodor Adorno ◽  
Franz Neumann

Este artigo tem por objetivo analisar comparativamente as semelhanças contidas nas críticas à democracia liberal presentes em alguns trabalhos selecionados de Carl Schmitt (1888-1985) e Robert Kurz (1943-2012). A despeito da estreita associação do primeiro autor com o regime nazista após 1933 e do segundo ser normalmente caracterizado como um pensador marxista (embora bastante crítico ao marxismo “ortodoxo”), são verificáveis inúmeras similitudes entre ambos quando se propõem a analisar as características do liberalismo parlamentar das democracias do século XX. Uma hipótese que pode explicar tais semelhanças seria a influência exercida por Schmitt sobre diversos teóricos da escola de Frankfurt, com os quais Kurz frequentemente dialoga em seus escritos e que foram inspiradores de algumas de suas reflexões – em especial, Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno e Max Horkheimer, embora Schmitt também tenha influenciado Franz Neumann, Otto Kirchheimer, Karl Korsch e Herbert Marcuse. Outra via de interpretação abordada aqui se refere à possibilidade de Schmitt ter encontrado, em suas teorias sobre o Estado e sobre o direito, os limites epistemológicos do liberalismo moderno, o que constitui o principal objeto de pesquisa de Kurz e foi tema recorrente nos escritos dos teóricos de Frankfurt.

scholarly journals Reproduction of Artworks in the Lippmannian-Frankfurtian Debates During Advanced Technology Era

2021 ◽  
pp. 53-64
Author(s):  
Azer Binnatli
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Advanced Technology ◽  
Max Horkheimer ◽  
Mechanical Reproduction ◽  
Theodor Adorno

The development of technology leads to mechanical reproduction of artworks. This tendency brings the paradox whether mechanical reproduction of artworks enlightens or blinds society. Optimistic perspective of Walter Benjamin and Lippmannian school on reproducibility faces pessimistic view of Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer. Thus, the main aim of this paper is to compare W. Lippmann, W. Benjamin, T. Adorno and M. Horkheimer’s views and summarize by checking suitability of two schools’ perspectives in advanced technological century.

scholarly journals Games de guerra e administração da experiência: notas sobre a barbárie como entretenimento

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Aluísio Ferreira de Lima
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Max Horkheimer ◽  
Theodor Adorno

O objetivo desse ensaio é discutir, a partir das proposições teóricas da Teoria Crítica da Sociedade, sobretudo aquelas acerca da pobreza da experiência, indústria cultural e racionalidade técnica, apresentadas por Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno e Walter Benjamin, o processo de apropriação da violência presente nas experiências de guerra pela indústria cultural. Especificamente, como a indústria cultural tem oferecido a violência como uma mercadoria ligada ao entretenimento a partir dos jogos virtuais de guerra (videogames), conseguindo, assim, realizar a administração da experiência pelo entretenimento. Para tanto, a análise parte da apresentação das proposições de Adorno e Horkheimer acerca dos significados de Auschwitz e da contribuição de Benjamin no que se refere à experiência inarrável dos soldados na guerra. Em seguida, explora-se a estreita relação entre a indústria cultural e sua  relação inseparável com a publicidade, de modo a preparar o/a leitor/a para as proposições acerca da forma como essa relação tem se apropriado dos jogos virtuais de guerra enquanto um instrumento para a implementação da racionalidade técnica e mercadológica, que sustenta a própria indústria cultural e contribui para a pobreza da experiência, vivida agora enquanto uma condição positiva da barbárie que recusa qualquer semelhança com o humano.

scholarly journals Looking for Orion: literature at the interface of cosmopolitanism and translocation

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-78
Author(s):  
Laura Izarra
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Literary Representations ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Max Horkheimer ◽  
The Past ◽  
Theodor Adorno ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Kamala Markandaya ◽  
James Stephens

Resumo: Este ensaio apresenta a Literatura como um novo local, um espaço translocal, que consiste em vários espaços fraturados e conectados de conhecimentos. Usando como metáfora a escultura do artista irlandês Rowan Gillespie Looking for Orion analisarei como essa interconexão de espaços abre novos caminhos de representações literárias que compreendem não só as contradições internas da modernização (Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer), mas também outras formas de irregularidade e estranhamento que revelam estados da mente específicos não familiares com a racionalização. Ultrapassando as fronteiras dos textos literários na interface com língua, pintura, música, cinema e multimídia, farei uma re-visão dos velhos dramas sociais mundiais, como a fome, a migração e o nacionalismo desde um ponto de vista crítico multi-axial em que a literatura já é um espaço translocal institucional. É o espaço da memória e da imaginação que re-conta narrativas cosmopolitanas suspensas e mitos que estão abertos ao passado e ao presente. A arte da escrita se encontra num ponto de mutação ao interrogar “a imagem ‘eterna’ do passado” (Walter Benjamin), questões de identidade e subjetividade. Analisarei três contos como exemplo de confluência cosmopolitana: “Hunger” (1928) do escritor irlandês James Stephens, “Hunger” (1997) da escritora indiana Kamala Markandaya, e “The Chandelier” (2002) do escitor libanês-americano Gregory Orfaela.Palavras-chave: literatura; espaço translocal; leitura crítica multi-axial.Abstract: This essay discusses Literature as a new kind of location, a trans-location consisting of fractured and variously connected spaces of knowledges. Taking Rowan Gillespie’s sculpture “Looking for Orion” as a metaphorical starting point, I argue how that interconnection of spaces opens up alternative ways of literary representations that will apprehend not only the internal contradictions of modernization (Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer) but also other forms of unevenness and strangeness that disclose specific states of mind unfamiliar with rationalization. Moving beyond the edge of literary texts at the interface of language, painting, music, cinema, and multimedia sources, I would like to re-vision old world social dramas, such as the famine, migration, and nationalism from a multi-axial critical perspective in which literature is already an institutional translocation. It is the space of memory and imagination that retells cosmopolitan suspended narratives and myths that are open both to the past and the present. The art of writing is brought to a turning point questioning “the ‘eternal’ image of the past” (Walter Benjamin), issues of identity and subjectivity. I analyse three short stories as an example of cosmopolitan confluence: James Stephens’s “Hunger” (1928), Kamala Markandaya’s “Hunger” (1997) and George Orfaela’s “The Chandelier” (2002).Keywords: literature; translocation; multi-axial critical reading.

scholarly journals TEORI KRITIS DAN RELEVANSINYA UNTUK PENGKAJIAN TERHADAP REALITAS SOSIAL BANGSA INDONESIA

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 159
Author(s):  
Sermada Kelen Donatus
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Herbert Marcuse ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Capitalist System ◽  
Max Horkheimer ◽  
Theodor Adorno ◽  
Systemic Corruption

This essay elaborates the Critical Theory proposed by a group of German intellectuals who revived the anti-capitalist social theory of Karl Marx. They belong to what is called the “Frankfurt-School” which emphasises the contextualisation of Marx’ theory. Critical Theory emerged as a response to anti-socialist dominance in contemporary society. This essay takes up some of the ideas of Frankfurt-School members Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse and Jürgen Habermas. Critical Theory can impact greatly on how we read present-day Indonesian society which is being destroyed by the global capitalist-system which in turn is producing social diseases like systemic corruption. Keywords: Teori Kritis, sekolah Frankfurt, Karl Marx, Horkhmeimer, Adorno, Marcuse, Habermas, relevansi teori kritis, realitas sosial Indonesia.

scholarly journals Correspondências entre Benjamin e Adorno

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-258
Author(s):  
Luciano Gatti
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Max Horkheimer ◽  
Theodor Adorno

O artigo examina os pontos de convergência e divergência teóricas na Correspondência entre Walter Benjamin e Theodor Adorno, ou seja, a ideia de um projeto intelectual comum a ambos, bem como o desenvolvimento por cada um dos autores de concepções de crítica, materialismo e de dialética próprias. Nesse contexto, são de especial interesse as discussões em torno do projeto das Passagens de Benjamin e o vínculo dos autores com o Instituto de Pesquisa Social, presidido por Max Horkheimer.

scholarly journals Revisionist philosophy of architecture: Fundamental dispositives

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-135
Author(s):  
Miško Šuvaković
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Theodor Adorno ◽  
Architecture Theory

The discussion points to the issue of defining and re-defining the notion of the "critical theory". The notion of critical theory has been considered since the introduction of the notion at the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt until the modern, postmodern and contemporary theories of critical and decentering of the critical. The notion of critical theory is associated with the problem of politicization of architecture and urbanism. It is pointed to the case of critical theory of the Frankfurt circle. Particular attention is paid to the art/architecture theory of Theodor Adorno and to the theory of architecture and urbanism of Walter Benjamin. Adorno's critique of architectural functionalism has been considered. It is discussed about methodological approach to Benjamin's analysis and the debate on Paris as metropolis. The aim of the discussion is to indicate to transformations and modalities of critical theory in modernism, post-structuralism, postmodernism and contemporary global neoliberalism.

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