scholarly journals Negative dialectic and linguistic turn: The actuality of Adorno’s concept of the conflict nature of modern societies

2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-52
Author(s):  
Marjan Ivkovic
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Social Conflict ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Linguistic Turn ◽  
Dead End ◽  
Negative Dialectic ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Crucial Characteristic

The author attempts at questioning Habermas? and Honneth?s claim that the linguistic turn within Critical Theory of society represents a way out of the ?dead end? of the first generation of Frankfurt School theorists, who were unable to formulate an action-theoretic understanding of social conflicts. By presenting a view that Adorno, in his ?Negative dialectic?, develops an insight into a crucial characteristic of the conflict nature of modern societies, which eludes the lingustic-pragmatist Critical Theory, the author tries to defend and reactualize Adorno?s perspective. The paper analyzes some key aspects of the original idea of Critical Theory, and the ?negativistic turn? that Adorno and Horkheimer made with the writing of ?Dialectic of Enlightenment?. Having considered the central arguments of the ?Negative Dialectic?, the author presents his understanding of Adorno?s concept of social conflict, which is then being contrasted with Habermas? understanding of social conflict, formulated in terms of a systemic colonization of the lifeworld. Pointing out the weaknesses of Habermas? concept, the author aims at sharpening the image of the conflict nature of modern societies that Adorno sketches, concluding that his perspective is able to question the framework of intersubjectivity that Habermas and Honneth take for granted.

International Relations Meets Critical Theory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Devetak
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Historical Materialism ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
German Idealism ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Insight Into

This chapter provides an account of the reception of critical theory in international relations in the early 1980s. It is structured around detailed studies of four pioneering international relations theorists: R. B. J. Walker, Richard K. Ashley, Andrew Linklater, and R. W. Cox. In their different ways these international relations scholars helped fashion the critical persona on the basis of a modified philosophical reflexivity inherited from German idealism and historical materialism, and their Frankfurt School heirs. The end result of this reception was to refigure the theorist as a critical intellectual, capable of achieving higher levels of ethical comportment on the basis of Enlightenment self-reflection, and deeper insight into the latent forces of political transformation on the basis of dialectical-philosophical history.

Illusion and Non-Identity Thinking in Nietzsche’s Critical Theory

2021 ◽  
pp. 089692052110563
Author(s):  
Vasilis Grollios
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Mass Culture ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Core Values ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
The Core ◽  
Identity Thinking ◽  
Radical Character

The paper attempts to bring to the fore the radical character of Nietzsche’s critical theory. It argues that behind Nietzsche’s consideration of suffering lies both a critique of one-dimensional mass culture and fetishism, and a theory of alienation that is much closer to Marx’s critique of alienation in capitalism than is usually believed. Uniquely, it will also support the idea that Nietzsche holds a theory of a dialectics between content and form, that is of non-identity thinking, very similar to that of the first generation of the Frankfurt School, and will attempt to connect it to an attempt to doubt the core values sustaining capitalism.

scholarly journals Jurgen Habermas: Problem Dialektika Ilmu Sosial

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Santosa ‘Irfaan
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Jürgen Habermas ◽  
Jurgen Habermas ◽  
Dead End ◽  
Reconstruction Effort ◽  
Process Dimension ◽  
Changing Process

Habermas critical theory is a reconstruction effort to Frankfurt school that inspired by Karl Marx’s critical theory, thatfacing dead end. With continuing concern of his previous thinkers to radically alter practical thinking structure, Habermasformulate that concern with new and original critical theory concept. This is clear on changing process dimension, whereHabermas choosing different way from his predecessors, with non-revolutionary and non-violence. Namely, through socialtransformation, with emancipate dialogs, communicative method, without domination method

scholarly journals Towards a constructive critical geopolitics – Inspirations from the Frankfurt School of critical theory

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veit Bachmann ◽  
Sami Moisio
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Critical Geopolitics ◽  
Peace Research ◽  
Societal Role

This paper seeks to enrich the scholarly potential and further develop the societal role of critical geopolitical scholarship. In particular, we elaborate on some of the challenges of what we call a ‘constructive critical geopolitics’. This is done through a selective inquiry into some of the key insights of the first generation of Frankfurt School critical theory, in particular as regards its reflections on political action and public engagement. We argue that incorporating some of the central tenets of critical theory into critical geopolitics has important implications for the subdiscipline – theoretically, empirically and as regards its applied/constructive role in society. Our argument seeks to contribute to the inclusion of constructive critical geopolitical analysis alongside the focus on thorough deconstruction of hegemonic knowledge productions, power relations and systems of exclusion. More concretely, drawing on critical theory as well as on geographic feminist and peace research, we call for more explicit normative positioning in critical geopolitical scholarship and suggest that we embrace the complexity of the geopolitical phenomena we study and, in so doing, to consider both their progressive and regressive aspects. We use our interest in processes of European (dis)integration, and the Brexit vote in particular, to highlight the need to further develop such multiperspectival analysis on highly complex and multifaceted geopolitical processes, such as European (dis)integration.

Towards a sociology of global morals with an ‘emancipatory intent’

2007 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. 135-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREW LINKLATER
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Sociological Approach ◽  
Physical Suffering ◽  
Simone Weil ◽  
Biological Legacy ◽  
Global Solidarity

ABSTRACTFirst generation Frankfurt School critical theorists argued that global solidarity was possible because human beings have similar vulnerabilities to mental and physical suffering. This approach to solidarity remains significant for any discussion of the ethical aspirations of critical theory. It also has ramifications for efforts to develop a sociological approach to global moral codes which is influenced by the idea of an emancipatory social theory. Informed by certain themes which were developed by Simone Weil, this article draws on the writings of Fromm, Horkheimer, Adorno and Elias to consider how a sociology of international moral codes can be developed. One of the aims of this project is to consider how far global moralities have developed forms of solidarity around the recognition of shared vulnerabilities to mental and physical suffering which are part of the species’ biological legacy.

Psychoanalysis and Critical Theory

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordana Jovanović
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Sociocultural Perspective ◽  
The Core ◽  
Mediating Factors ◽  
Conditio Humana ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cultural Shifts

The relationship between psychoanalysis and Critical Theory (the Frankfurt School), contrary to dominant interpretations, is examined from a sociocultural perspective. Psychoanalysis addressed the sociopolitical issues of its time, including cultural shifts, war, and the cultural conditio humana in general. Beyond that, and more importantly, it is argued that the core psychoanalytic concepts, including drive itself, can be understood as a structure open to social co-construction. Such an interpretation of psychoanalysis can provide a link to Critical Theory of society. First, both sociopolitical and theoretical conditions in the 1920s and 1930s merit analysis under which members of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research referred to Freud’s psychoanalysis. A theory was needed that would examine a missing point in Marxist interpretations, which the Institute adopted as its political and theoretical framework. What was missing was a place for subjective mediating factors, especially important among which were those generated by drives and those that operated unconsciously. The views on psychoanalysis and its role in the first generation of Critical Theory are analyzed, particularly the views of Horkheimer, Adorno, Fromm, and, most extensively, Marcuse, given the fact that Freud’s psychoanalysis had a central role in his thought. Finally, questions regarding the contemporary relevance of psychoanalysis and Critical Theory under new sociocultural conditions in the 21st century are raised.

scholarly journals Critical theory and the question of technology: The Frankfurt School revisited

Thesis Eleven ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 072551362110020
Author(s):  
Gerard Delanty ◽  
Neal Harris
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Substantive Theory ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Concepts ◽  
Historical Developments

Unlike the first generation of critical theorists, contemporary critical theory has largely ignored technology. This is to the detriment of a critical theory of society – technology is now a central feature of our daily lives and integral to the contemporary form of capitalism. Rather than seek to rescue the first generation’s substantive theory of technology, which has been partly outmoded by historical developments, the approach adopted in this article is to engage with today’s technology through the conceptual apparatus offered by the early Frankfurt School. This rationale is guided by the conviction that the core ideas of critical theory still offer a sound basis for assessing the nature of technology today. Through a reconstruction and engagement with some of the core concepts of first-generation critical theory, as well as the work of Bernard Stiegler and Andrew Feenberg, we can arrive at a more robust theory of technology, capable of critically interrogating the role of technology in contemporary society.

scholarly journals Jurgen Habermas: Problem Dialektika Ilmu Sosial

1970 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-113
Author(s):  
Santosa ‘Irfaan
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Jürgen Habermas ◽  
Jurgen Habermas ◽  
Dead End ◽  
Reconstruction Effort ◽  
Process Dimension ◽  
Changing Process

Habermas critical theory is a reconstruction effort to Frankfurt school that inspired by Karl Marx’s critical theory, thatfacing dead end. With continuing concern of his previous thinkers to radically alter practical thinking structure, Habermasformulate that concern with new and original critical theory concept. This is clear on changing process dimension, whereHabermas choosing different way from his predecessors, with non-revolutionary and non-violence. Namely, through socialtransformation, with emancipate dialogs, communicative method, without domination method

scholarly journals Levinas, Adorno, and the Light of Redemption: Notes on a Critical Eschatology

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-62
Author(s):  
Dylan Shaul ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Edmund Husserl ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
The Face ◽  
Critical Phenomenology ◽  
Moral Dimensions ◽  
Political Economic

It seems natural to suppose that the burgeoning field of critical phenomenology would come to bear at least some affinities or resemblances (whether implicitly or explicitly) to critical theory, insofar as both are deeply concerned with directing a rigorous critical eye towards the most pressing political, economic, cultural, and social issues of our time. Yet critical theory has also had its share of critics of phenomenology itself, not least of which was the foremost member of the first-generation Frankfurt School critical theorists, Theodor W. Adorno. Adorno’s critique of phenomenology was, for historical reasons, confined to Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, and might be concisely put as follows: for Adorno, classical phenomenology is insufficiently critical towards contemporary realities of oppression and domination (an insufficiency variously attributed to an alleged pernicious idealism, solipsism, methodological individualism, descriptivism, or ahistoricism in classical phenomenology). On this count, critical phenomenologists today may very well agree—at least to the point of affirming that phenomenology’s critical potential remained largely “untapped” in its classical formulations. However, in a twist of historical fate, Adorno failed to engage with a contemporaneous phenomenologist with whom he perhaps had more in common than anyone else: Emmanuel Levinas. Levinas himself was also notably critical of Husserl and Heidegger (while of course also being enormously indebted to them), for reasons not altogether dissimilar to Adorno’s. For Levinas, phenomenology had hitherto neglected the fundamental ethical or moral dimensions of experience—in particular our ethical responsibility towards the Other in the face of the manifold evils and injustices of the world. What might Adorno have thought of Levinas’s work, and Levinas of Adorno’s? What might they have learned from one another? And how might this exchange have affected the trajectories of critical theory, phenomenology, or critical phenomenology?

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