Dana Phillips
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195137699
- eISBN:
- 9780199787937
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195137699.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
In the academy, the so-called Science Wars of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s were waged largely by those on the left who were interested in the theories and findings of the several disciplines in which ...
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In the academy, the so-called Science Wars of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s were waged largely by those on the left who were interested in the theories and findings of the several disciplines in which historical, philosophical, political, and sociological science studies are pursued. These radical critics equated scientific knowledge with power, but made an exception for ecology, which they saw as utopian because they too readily accepted the popular view of ecology as holistic and communitarian, and therefore as radically unlike physics, which has long set the standard for reductive and mechanistic views of nature as well as for objectivity and certainty. Radical critics of science have no faith in the latter, believing instead in the social construction of scientific knowledge, and asserting that the goal of most scientific research and experimentation is the domination of nature. Their confidence in theories of social construction leads them to treat science as just one form of discourse among others, and to dismiss disciplines like sociobiology and genetics as politically suspect. But many of these critics of science — who are variously influenced by Critical Theory, cultural studies, ecofeminism, and so-called social ecology — seem blithely to accept sociological determinism (which would appear to be just as onerous as any other form of determinism) and seem to misunderstand scientific realism, which is a realism not about theories or “discourses” but about entities which cannot be understood as mere effects of meaning or artifacts of signification.Less
In the academy, the so-called Science Wars of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s were waged largely by those on the left who were interested in the theories and findings of the several disciplines in which historical, philosophical, political, and sociological science studies are pursued. These radical critics equated scientific knowledge with power, but made an exception for ecology, which they saw as utopian because they too readily accepted the popular view of ecology as holistic and communitarian, and therefore as radically unlike physics, which has long set the standard for reductive and mechanistic views of nature as well as for objectivity and certainty. Radical critics of science have no faith in the latter, believing instead in the social construction of scientific knowledge, and asserting that the goal of most scientific research and experimentation is the domination of nature. Their confidence in theories of social construction leads them to treat science as just one form of discourse among others, and to dismiss disciplines like sociobiology and genetics as politically suspect. But many of these critics of science — who are variously influenced by Critical Theory, cultural studies, ecofeminism, and so-called social ecology — seem blithely to accept sociological determinism (which would appear to be just as onerous as any other form of determinism) and seem to misunderstand scientific realism, which is a realism not about theories or “discourses” but about entities which cannot be understood as mere effects of meaning or artifacts of signification.
Carl Raschke
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231173841
- eISBN:
- 9780231539623
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231173841.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
For theorists in search of a political theology that is more responsive to the challenges now facing Western democracies, this book tenders a new political economy anchored in a theory of value. The ...
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For theorists in search of a political theology that is more responsive to the challenges now facing Western democracies, this book tenders a new political economy anchored in a theory of value. The political theology of the future, Carl Raschke argues, must draw on a powerful, hidden impetus—the “force of God”—to frame a new value economy. It must also embrace a radical, “faith-based” revolutionary style of theory that reconceives the power of the “theological” in political thought and action. Raschke ties democracy’s retreat to the West’s failure to confront its decadence and mobilize its vast spiritual resources. Worsening debt, rising unemployment, and gross income inequality have led to a crisis in political representation and values that twentieth-century theorists never anticipated. Drawing on the thought of Hegel and Nietzsche as well as recent work by Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Jean-Joseph Goux, Giorgio Agamben, and Alain Badiou, among others, Raschke recasts political theology for a new generation. He proposes a bold, uncompromising critical theory that acknowledges the enduring significance of Marx without his materialism and builds a vital, more spiritually grounded relationship between politics and the religious imaginary.Less
For theorists in search of a political theology that is more responsive to the challenges now facing Western democracies, this book tenders a new political economy anchored in a theory of value. The political theology of the future, Carl Raschke argues, must draw on a powerful, hidden impetus—the “force of God”—to frame a new value economy. It must also embrace a radical, “faith-based” revolutionary style of theory that reconceives the power of the “theological” in political thought and action. Raschke ties democracy’s retreat to the West’s failure to confront its decadence and mobilize its vast spiritual resources. Worsening debt, rising unemployment, and gross income inequality have led to a crisis in political representation and values that twentieth-century theorists never anticipated. Drawing on the thought of Hegel and Nietzsche as well as recent work by Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Jean-Joseph Goux, Giorgio Agamben, and Alain Badiou, among others, Raschke recasts political theology for a new generation. He proposes a bold, uncompromising critical theory that acknowledges the enduring significance of Marx without his materialism and builds a vital, more spiritually grounded relationship between politics and the religious imaginary.
Franz Neumann, Herbert Marcuse, Otto Kircheimer, and Raymond Geuss
Raffaele Laudani (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691134130
- eISBN:
- 9781400846467
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691134130.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Military History
This introduction discusses the Frankfurt School's contribution to the United States' World War II effort. In particular, it examines the role played by three German scholars and prominent members of ...
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This introduction discusses the Frankfurt School's contribution to the United States' World War II effort. In particular, it examines the role played by three German scholars and prominent members of the Frankfurt School: Franz Neumann, Herbert Marcuse, and Otto Kirchheimer. As political analysts at the Research and Analysis Branch of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the first American intelligence agency, Neumann, Marcuse, and Kirchheimer prepared intelligence reports on Nazi Germany. The chapter considers how, by adapting Critical Theory to the American cultural and bureaucratic machine, the Frankfurt group was rapidly able to impose their own “intellectual guidance” on the Central European Section, a Research and Analysis Branch subdivision charged with analyzing and studying Nazi Germany (as well as Austria and the other Central European countries).Less
This introduction discusses the Frankfurt School's contribution to the United States' World War II effort. In particular, it examines the role played by three German scholars and prominent members of the Frankfurt School: Franz Neumann, Herbert Marcuse, and Otto Kirchheimer. As political analysts at the Research and Analysis Branch of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the first American intelligence agency, Neumann, Marcuse, and Kirchheimer prepared intelligence reports on Nazi Germany. The chapter considers how, by adapting Critical Theory to the American cultural and bureaucratic machine, the Frankfurt group was rapidly able to impose their own “intellectual guidance” on the Central European Section, a Research and Analysis Branch subdivision charged with analyzing and studying Nazi Germany (as well as Austria and the other Central European countries).
Daniel J. Levine
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199916061
- eISBN:
- 9780199980246
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199916061.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
How does sustainable critique differ from other appropriations of Frankfurt school social theory—the focus of “third” and “fourth” debate—into IR? The answer lies in differentiating the work of ...
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How does sustainable critique differ from other appropriations of Frankfurt school social theory—the focus of “third” and “fourth” debate—into IR? The answer lies in differentiating the work of contemporary Frankfurt school theorists, in particular Jürgen Habermas and Axel Honneth, from that of their predecessors: Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Herbert Marcuse. I argue that IR has been too quick to dismiss these earlier scholars. Building on Max Weber’s notion of a constellation and Graham Allison’s classic Essence of Decision, I suggest a basis for their re-consideration.Less
How does sustainable critique differ from other appropriations of Frankfurt school social theory—the focus of “third” and “fourth” debate—into IR? The answer lies in differentiating the work of contemporary Frankfurt school theorists, in particular Jürgen Habermas and Axel Honneth, from that of their predecessors: Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Herbert Marcuse. I argue that IR has been too quick to dismiss these earlier scholars. Building on Max Weber’s notion of a constellation and Graham Allison’s classic Essence of Decision, I suggest a basis for their re-consideration.
Simon Mussell
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781526105707
- eISBN:
- 9781526132253
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526105707.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
The book provides a new perspective on the early work of the Frankfurt School, by focusing on the vital role that affect and feeling play in the development of critical theory. Building on ...
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The book provides a new perspective on the early work of the Frankfurt School, by focusing on the vital role that affect and feeling play in the development of critical theory. Building on contemporary theories of affect, the author argues that any renewal of critical theory today must have an affective politics at its core. If one’s aim is to effectively theorize, criticize, and ultimately transform existing social relations, then a strictly rationalist model of political thought remains inadequate. In many respects, this flies in the face of predominant forms of political philosophy, which have long upheld reason and rationality as sole proprietors of political legitimacy. Critical theory and feeling shows how the work of the early Frankfurt School offers a dynamic and necessary corrective to the excesses of formalized reason. Studying a range of themes – from melancholia, unhappiness, and hope, to mimesis, affect, and objects – this book provides a radical rethinking of critical theory for our times.Less
The book provides a new perspective on the early work of the Frankfurt School, by focusing on the vital role that affect and feeling play in the development of critical theory. Building on contemporary theories of affect, the author argues that any renewal of critical theory today must have an affective politics at its core. If one’s aim is to effectively theorize, criticize, and ultimately transform existing social relations, then a strictly rationalist model of political thought remains inadequate. In many respects, this flies in the face of predominant forms of political philosophy, which have long upheld reason and rationality as sole proprietors of political legitimacy. Critical theory and feeling shows how the work of the early Frankfurt School offers a dynamic and necessary corrective to the excesses of formalized reason. Studying a range of themes – from melancholia, unhappiness, and hope, to mimesis, affect, and objects – this book provides a radical rethinking of critical theory for our times.
Penelope Deutscher and Cristina Lafont (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780231181518
- eISBN:
- 9780231543620
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231181518.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
We live in critical times. We face a global crisis in economics and finance, a global ecological crisis, and a constant barrage of international disputes. Perhaps most dishearteningly, there seems to ...
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We live in critical times. We face a global crisis in economics and finance, a global ecological crisis, and a constant barrage of international disputes. Perhaps most dishearteningly, there seems to be little faith in our ability to address such difficult problems. However, there is also a more positive sense in which these are critical times. The world's current state of flux gives us a unique window of opportunity for shaping a new international order that will allow us to cope with current and future global crises.
In Critical Theory in Critical Times, eleven of the most distinguished critical theorists offer new perspectives on recent crises and transformations of the global political and economic order. Essays from Jürgen Habermas, Seyla Benhabib, Cristina Lafont, Rainer Forst, Wendy Brown, Christoph Menke, Nancy Fraser, Rahel Jaeggi, Amy Allen, Penelope Deutscher, and Charles Mills address pressing issues including international human rights and democratic sovereignty, global neoliberalism, novel approaches to the critique of capitalism, critical theory's Eurocentric heritage, and new directions offered by critical race theory and postcolonial studies. Sharpening the conceptual tools of critical theory, the contributors to Critical Theory in Critical Times reveal new ways of expanding the diverse traditions of the Frankfurt School in response to some of the most urgent and important challenges of our times.Less
We live in critical times. We face a global crisis in economics and finance, a global ecological crisis, and a constant barrage of international disputes. Perhaps most dishearteningly, there seems to be little faith in our ability to address such difficult problems. However, there is also a more positive sense in which these are critical times. The world's current state of flux gives us a unique window of opportunity for shaping a new international order that will allow us to cope with current and future global crises.
In Critical Theory in Critical Times, eleven of the most distinguished critical theorists offer new perspectives on recent crises and transformations of the global political and economic order. Essays from Jürgen Habermas, Seyla Benhabib, Cristina Lafont, Rainer Forst, Wendy Brown, Christoph Menke, Nancy Fraser, Rahel Jaeggi, Amy Allen, Penelope Deutscher, and Charles Mills address pressing issues including international human rights and democratic sovereignty, global neoliberalism, novel approaches to the critique of capitalism, critical theory's Eurocentric heritage, and new directions offered by critical race theory and postcolonial studies. Sharpening the conceptual tools of critical theory, the contributors to Critical Theory in Critical Times reveal new ways of expanding the diverse traditions of the Frankfurt School in response to some of the most urgent and important challenges of our times.
Anastasia Marinopoulou
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781526105370
- eISBN:
- 9781526128157
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526105370.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
The book makes a critical comparison of fundamental trends in modern epistemology with the epistemological concerns of critical theory of the Frankfurt School. It comprises five chapters, which refer ...
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The book makes a critical comparison of fundamental trends in modern epistemology with the epistemological concerns of critical theory of the Frankfurt School. It comprises five chapters, which refer to phenomenology, structuralism and poststructuralism, modernism and postmodernism, systems’ theory and critical realism.It follows the course of development of modern epistemology, considering basic conceptions such as dialectics, theory and practice in science, and the potential for a political epistemology based on the arguments of critical theory. It can certainly be used as a textbook because each chapter tallies with a major trend in modern epistemology, and provides a concrete analysis of the comparison it draws with the work of leading figures of the Frankfurt School such as Horkheimer, Adorno and Habermas.The present volume addresses the reader of political theory, epistemology, social theory and it also raises key questions on methodology in science and research. Therefore, it can prove beneficial for students, researchers and academics that deal with issues of theory, practice, and method in science. The contents of the volume were meticulously constructed in order to be of practical use both for undergraduate and postgraduate students, and each chapter includes basic graphs that condense the basic argument for each thematic circle on modern epistemology and methodology.The book contains unpublished critique and information provided to the writer in recent interviews she conducted with Jürgen Habermas (providing analysis on systems theory), William Outhwaite and Stefan Müller-Doohm (both the latter clarified issues and contributed valuable information on critical realism and the Frankfurt School, respectively).Less
The book makes a critical comparison of fundamental trends in modern epistemology with the epistemological concerns of critical theory of the Frankfurt School. It comprises five chapters, which refer to phenomenology, structuralism and poststructuralism, modernism and postmodernism, systems’ theory and critical realism.It follows the course of development of modern epistemology, considering basic conceptions such as dialectics, theory and practice in science, and the potential for a political epistemology based on the arguments of critical theory. It can certainly be used as a textbook because each chapter tallies with a major trend in modern epistemology, and provides a concrete analysis of the comparison it draws with the work of leading figures of the Frankfurt School such as Horkheimer, Adorno and Habermas.The present volume addresses the reader of political theory, epistemology, social theory and it also raises key questions on methodology in science and research. Therefore, it can prove beneficial for students, researchers and academics that deal with issues of theory, practice, and method in science. The contents of the volume were meticulously constructed in order to be of practical use both for undergraduate and postgraduate students, and each chapter includes basic graphs that condense the basic argument for each thematic circle on modern epistemology and methodology.The book contains unpublished critique and information provided to the writer in recent interviews she conducted with Jürgen Habermas (providing analysis on systems theory), William Outhwaite and Stefan Müller-Doohm (both the latter clarified issues and contributed valuable information on critical realism and the Frankfurt School, respectively).
Simon Mussell
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781526105707
- eISBN:
- 9781526132253
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526105707.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
Chapter 1 sets out the theoretical terrain on which the wider project is based. It begins by revisiting some of the founding tenets of critical theory in the context of the establishment of the ...
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Chapter 1 sets out the theoretical terrain on which the wider project is based. It begins by revisiting some of the founding tenets of critical theory in the context of the establishment of the Institute for Social Research in the early twentieth century. The chapter then discusses contemporary theories of affect that have emerged in the past couple of decades as part of the so-called ‘new materialisms’. Taking on board some of the key findings of this recent work on affect, the author also highlights the potential political deficiencies that accompany such accounts, particularly within a growing ‘post-critical’ context. The chapter closes with suggestions as to how early critical theory – read through an affective lens – might provide the social and political grounding that affect theory often lacks, while at the same time noting how theories of affect are invaluable in shedding light on the efficacy of the pre- or extra-rational, so often sacrificed on the altar of political philosophy.Less
Chapter 1 sets out the theoretical terrain on which the wider project is based. It begins by revisiting some of the founding tenets of critical theory in the context of the establishment of the Institute for Social Research in the early twentieth century. The chapter then discusses contemporary theories of affect that have emerged in the past couple of decades as part of the so-called ‘new materialisms’. Taking on board some of the key findings of this recent work on affect, the author also highlights the potential political deficiencies that accompany such accounts, particularly within a growing ‘post-critical’ context. The chapter closes with suggestions as to how early critical theory – read through an affective lens – might provide the social and political grounding that affect theory often lacks, while at the same time noting how theories of affect are invaluable in shedding light on the efficacy of the pre- or extra-rational, so often sacrificed on the altar of political philosophy.
Albena Azmanova
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231153805
- eISBN:
- 9780231527286
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231153805.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Critical Theory offers a propitious starting point for the articulation of the components of a theory of critical political judgment—one that is both politically realistic and normatively rigorous. ...
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Critical Theory offers a propitious starting point for the articulation of the components of a theory of critical political judgment—one that is both politically realistic and normatively rigorous. This chapter first reviews the key conceptual components of Critical Theory and lays out the grounds for elaborating a theory of critical political judgment. It then focuses on the logic of the conceptual innovation instigated by the communicative turn in Critical Theory. It reviews this evolution in the light of efforts to solve the “judgment paradox”—the tension between political relevance and moral justice in theories of judgment, tension that is damaging to social criticism. In order to solve the judgment paradox, Critical Theory, through Habermas, overcomes the standard normative model by adding the hermeneutic dimension of communicative interaction among citizens. The chapter concludes by examining the implications of this for a theory of political judgment.Less
Critical Theory offers a propitious starting point for the articulation of the components of a theory of critical political judgment—one that is both politically realistic and normatively rigorous. This chapter first reviews the key conceptual components of Critical Theory and lays out the grounds for elaborating a theory of critical political judgment. It then focuses on the logic of the conceptual innovation instigated by the communicative turn in Critical Theory. It reviews this evolution in the light of efforts to solve the “judgment paradox”—the tension between political relevance and moral justice in theories of judgment, tension that is damaging to social criticism. In order to solve the judgment paradox, Critical Theory, through Habermas, overcomes the standard normative model by adding the hermeneutic dimension of communicative interaction among citizens. The chapter concludes by examining the implications of this for a theory of political judgment.
Axel Honneth
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231151870
- eISBN:
- 9780231526364
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231151870.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter presents a dialogue with Axel Honneth, professor of philosophy at the Frankfurt School and director of the Institute for Social Research, regarding the status of Critical Theory as a ...
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This chapter presents a dialogue with Axel Honneth, professor of philosophy at the Frankfurt School and director of the Institute for Social Research, regarding the status of Critical Theory as a tradition of thought. Honneth attempts to develop a normative foundation for a theory of society, based on his belief that early Critical Theory possessed a flawed sociology. He agrees with many of Habermas' reformulations of Critical Theory except the Habermasian pragmatics of language, opting instead for a theory of recognition. Honneth's discussion further includes the relationship of his theories with French social philosophy, the question of instrumental reason, the reformulation of the Habermasian theory of the public, and his idea of developing a tradition of social philosophy concerned with distinguishing social pathologies.Less
This chapter presents a dialogue with Axel Honneth, professor of philosophy at the Frankfurt School and director of the Institute for Social Research, regarding the status of Critical Theory as a tradition of thought. Honneth attempts to develop a normative foundation for a theory of society, based on his belief that early Critical Theory possessed a flawed sociology. He agrees with many of Habermas' reformulations of Critical Theory except the Habermasian pragmatics of language, opting instead for a theory of recognition. Honneth's discussion further includes the relationship of his theories with French social philosophy, the question of instrumental reason, the reformulation of the Habermasian theory of the public, and his idea of developing a tradition of social philosophy concerned with distinguishing social pathologies.
Melissa F. Baird
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780813056562
- eISBN:
- 9780813053479
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813056562.001.0001
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
What are the cultural politics of making place? How do we reconcile the heritage landscapes we encounter in our work with their sociopolitical and historical contexts? What avenues are there to ...
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What are the cultural politics of making place? How do we reconcile the heritage landscapes we encounter in our work with their sociopolitical and historical contexts? What avenues are there to grapple with and present contemporary concerns? Critical Theory and the Anthropology of Heritage Landscapes examines landscapes as heritage and shows how these are engaged in a field of power. It argues that to not locate the political contexts of heritage work has consequences. Research experiences in Indigenous and descendant heritage landscapes in Alaska, Mongolia, and Western Australia serve as touchstones to show how heritage landscapes are enmeshed in political and environmental struggles: climate change, oil spills, environmental degradation, political instability, identity politics, and resource extraction. Drawing on the emergent field of critical heritage theory and using the metaphor of the resource frontier, Critical Theory and the Anthropology of Heritage Landscapes shows how these “new heritage landscapes” are also increasingly imbricated in development and extractive projects. Heritage experts, private and extractive interests, government representatives, and descendant groups negotiate and broker, promote and contest, and create value and meaning. In the process, changes in heritage legislation and corporate heritage strategies create significant changes that, in some cases, have reframed Indigenous lands and heritage as resources.Less
What are the cultural politics of making place? How do we reconcile the heritage landscapes we encounter in our work with their sociopolitical and historical contexts? What avenues are there to grapple with and present contemporary concerns? Critical Theory and the Anthropology of Heritage Landscapes examines landscapes as heritage and shows how these are engaged in a field of power. It argues that to not locate the political contexts of heritage work has consequences. Research experiences in Indigenous and descendant heritage landscapes in Alaska, Mongolia, and Western Australia serve as touchstones to show how heritage landscapes are enmeshed in political and environmental struggles: climate change, oil spills, environmental degradation, political instability, identity politics, and resource extraction. Drawing on the emergent field of critical heritage theory and using the metaphor of the resource frontier, Critical Theory and the Anthropology of Heritage Landscapes shows how these “new heritage landscapes” are also increasingly imbricated in development and extractive projects. Heritage experts, private and extractive interests, government representatives, and descendant groups negotiate and broker, promote and contest, and create value and meaning. In the process, changes in heritage legislation and corporate heritage strategies create significant changes that, in some cases, have reframed Indigenous lands and heritage as resources.
Seyla Benhabib
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691167251
- eISBN:
- 9780691184234
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691167251.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter talks about how the announcement that Judith Butler was awarded the Adorno Prize of the city of Frankfurt led to an intense controversy that engulfed officials of the German-Jewish and ...
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This chapter talks about how the announcement that Judith Butler was awarded the Adorno Prize of the city of Frankfurt led to an intense controversy that engulfed officials of the German-Jewish and Israeli communities, members of academia, journalists, and public intellectuals. At issue was whether, given her support of the Israel Global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS), Butler should have been honored in the name of a Jewish-German refugee and one of the revered founders of the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School. Nonetheless, Butler's achievement is to retrieve ethical imperatives toward a vision of cohabitation by reviving Jewish memories of exile and persecution, in that she reexamines long-forgotten distinctions between cultural and political Zionism.Less
This chapter talks about how the announcement that Judith Butler was awarded the Adorno Prize of the city of Frankfurt led to an intense controversy that engulfed officials of the German-Jewish and Israeli communities, members of academia, journalists, and public intellectuals. At issue was whether, given her support of the Israel Global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS), Butler should have been honored in the name of a Jewish-German refugee and one of the revered founders of the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School. Nonetheless, Butler's achievement is to retrieve ethical imperatives toward a vision of cohabitation by reviving Jewish memories of exile and persecution, in that she reexamines long-forgotten distinctions between cultural and political Zionism.
Christopher Hutton
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748633500
- eISBN:
- 9780748671489
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748633500.003.0002
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Applied Linguistics and Pedagogy
This chapter offers a brief introduction to topics and approaches in legal theory and language. It offers a critical summary of the differences between natural law and legal positivism, describes in ...
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This chapter offers a brief introduction to topics and approaches in legal theory and language. It offers a critical summary of the differences between natural law and legal positivism, describes in outline the formalist position as opposed to the realist, summarizes the idea of the rule of law in liberal ideology, and shows how this idea of the relative autonomy of the legal system and legal language comes under attack in radical approaches to law. It then looks at how the law and economics framework might deal with linguistic questions, and contrasts the different understanding of law and language in Luhmann and Habermas. The fundamental issue at stake is the notion of law's autonomy.Less
This chapter offers a brief introduction to topics and approaches in legal theory and language. It offers a critical summary of the differences between natural law and legal positivism, describes in outline the formalist position as opposed to the realist, summarizes the idea of the rule of law in liberal ideology, and shows how this idea of the relative autonomy of the legal system and legal language comes under attack in radical approaches to law. It then looks at how the law and economics framework might deal with linguistic questions, and contrasts the different understanding of law and language in Luhmann and Habermas. The fundamental issue at stake is the notion of law's autonomy.
Charles W. Mills
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780231181518
- eISBN:
- 9780231543620
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231181518.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
Whether locating its origins in Marxism, or tracing them all the way back to Kant, Critical Theory defines itself as a philosophical outlook self-consciously emancipatory, seeking to overturn ...
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Whether locating its origins in Marxism, or tracing them all the way back to Kant, Critical Theory defines itself as a philosophical outlook self-consciously emancipatory, seeking to overturn structures of domination and contribute to bringing about a better world. But these laudable ambitions have repeatedly foundered on the subject of race. Despite the centrality of racism and racial domination to the modern world, Critical Theory in its mainstream incarnations has had very little useful to say on these problems. In this chapter, Mills urges a dialogue between Critical Theory and what has recently been baptized Critical Philosophy of Race, which has made the subject of race its defining focus.Less
Whether locating its origins in Marxism, or tracing them all the way back to Kant, Critical Theory defines itself as a philosophical outlook self-consciously emancipatory, seeking to overturn structures of domination and contribute to bringing about a better world. But these laudable ambitions have repeatedly foundered on the subject of race. Despite the centrality of racism and racial domination to the modern world, Critical Theory in its mainstream incarnations has had very little useful to say on these problems. In this chapter, Mills urges a dialogue between Critical Theory and what has recently been baptized Critical Philosophy of Race, which has made the subject of race its defining focus.
J. M. Bernstein
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823231263
- eISBN:
- 9780823235360
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823231263.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
This chapter considers the problem of misrecognition as a source of moral injury in Theodor W. Adorno and in the project of Critical Theory. The chapter begins by reprising ...
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This chapter considers the problem of misrecognition as a source of moral injury in Theodor W. Adorno and in the project of Critical Theory. The chapter begins by reprising Axel Honneth's recognitive critique of the communicative turn. The singular achievement of recognitive theory is to provide an account of all moral injuries, injuries that are not just misfortunes but normatively wrong, in terms of misrecognition. It is tested against Nancy Fraser's contention that inequality cannot be analyzed in recognitive terms. A negative social philosophy, one bound to injustice, must give priority to history and event. Honneth's approach displaces what Adorno conceived of as the two orienting frames of Critical Theory: a contextualization of modern social forms within a fragmentary philosophy of history, and, working from the opposite pole, the provisioning of an ineliminable and primary role to event and experience.Less
This chapter considers the problem of misrecognition as a source of moral injury in Theodor W. Adorno and in the project of Critical Theory. The chapter begins by reprising Axel Honneth's recognitive critique of the communicative turn. The singular achievement of recognitive theory is to provide an account of all moral injuries, injuries that are not just misfortunes but normatively wrong, in terms of misrecognition. It is tested against Nancy Fraser's contention that inequality cannot be analyzed in recognitive terms. A negative social philosophy, one bound to injustice, must give priority to history and event. Honneth's approach displaces what Adorno conceived of as the two orienting frames of Critical Theory: a contextualization of modern social forms within a fragmentary philosophy of history, and, working from the opposite pole, the provisioning of an ineliminable and primary role to event and experience.
Simon Mussell
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781526105707
- eISBN:
- 9781526132253
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526105707.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
Chapter 2 begins by looking at how medical and cultural histories of melancholy and unhappiness have traditionally defined and diagnosed such feelings as negative, unhealthy, and undesirable, even ...
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Chapter 2 begins by looking at how medical and cultural histories of melancholy and unhappiness have traditionally defined and diagnosed such feelings as negative, unhealthy, and undesirable, even while recognizing their potentially enabling features. Freud’s essay of 1917 is seen to mark a definitive moment when melancholia becomes fully pathologized. In response to this, the chapter turns to the work of Walter Benjamin, who attempts to mine new readings of melancholic experience (and criticism) that show the latter to be profoundly social, political, and productive. This places his work at odds with the prevailing consensus, which characterizes melancholia as a personal psychological failing that is stifling, passive, and anti-social. The chapter closes with a section on ‘conscious unhappiness’. Revisiting Theodor Adorno’s work, this section affirms the importance and interconnectedness of affective and political refusal. Rather than seeking to avoid or relieve dysphoric feelings through psychic adjustment, conscious unhappiness amplifies unmet needs, giving voice to the suffering that arises from a social world in need of wholesale transformation. As part of its revolutionary critique of capitalist social relations, critical theory refuses to privatize the notion of happiness and in so doing aligns itself with the (negative) truth-content of unhappiness – the bad that cannot be made good.
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Chapter 2 begins by looking at how medical and cultural histories of melancholy and unhappiness have traditionally defined and diagnosed such feelings as negative, unhealthy, and undesirable, even while recognizing their potentially enabling features. Freud’s essay of 1917 is seen to mark a definitive moment when melancholia becomes fully pathologized. In response to this, the chapter turns to the work of Walter Benjamin, who attempts to mine new readings of melancholic experience (and criticism) that show the latter to be profoundly social, political, and productive. This places his work at odds with the prevailing consensus, which characterizes melancholia as a personal psychological failing that is stifling, passive, and anti-social. The chapter closes with a section on ‘conscious unhappiness’. Revisiting Theodor Adorno’s work, this section affirms the importance and interconnectedness of affective and political refusal. Rather than seeking to avoid or relieve dysphoric feelings through psychic adjustment, conscious unhappiness amplifies unmet needs, giving voice to the suffering that arises from a social world in need of wholesale transformation. As part of its revolutionary critique of capitalist social relations, critical theory refuses to privatize the notion of happiness and in so doing aligns itself with the (negative) truth-content of unhappiness – the bad that cannot be made good.
Amy Allen
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780231181518
- eISBN:
- 9780231543620
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231181518.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
Neither of the major contemporary theorists most closely associated with the legacy of the Frankfurt School, Jürgen Habermas or Axel Honneth, has made systematic reflection on the paradoxes and ...
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Neither of the major contemporary theorists most closely associated with the legacy of the Frankfurt School, Jürgen Habermas or Axel Honneth, has made systematic reflection on the paradoxes and challenges produced by the waves of de-colonization that characterized the latter half of the twentieth century a central focus of his work in critical theory, nor has either theorist engaged seriously with the by now substantial body of literature in post-colonial theory or studies. In this paper, Allen argues that this silence is motivated by the particular role that ideas of historical progress, development, social evolution, and socio-cultural learning play in justifying and grounding the normative perspective of contemporary Frankfurt school critical theory.Less
Neither of the major contemporary theorists most closely associated with the legacy of the Frankfurt School, Jürgen Habermas or Axel Honneth, has made systematic reflection on the paradoxes and challenges produced by the waves of de-colonization that characterized the latter half of the twentieth century a central focus of his work in critical theory, nor has either theorist engaged seriously with the by now substantial body of literature in post-colonial theory or studies. In this paper, Allen argues that this silence is motivated by the particular role that ideas of historical progress, development, social evolution, and socio-cultural learning play in justifying and grounding the normative perspective of contemporary Frankfurt school critical theory.
Albena Azmanova
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231153805
- eISBN:
- 9780231527286
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231153805.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter first discusses the communicative turn that Rawls and Habermas have undertaken, respectively, in Philosophical Liberalism and Critical Theory, prompted by efforts to resolve the judgment ...
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This chapter first discusses the communicative turn that Rawls and Habermas have undertaken, respectively, in Philosophical Liberalism and Critical Theory, prompted by efforts to resolve the judgment paradox. This paradox appears in different forms in Critical Theory and in Philosophical Liberalism. For Critical Theory it concerns the risk that the justification of norms from an “internal point of view” might engage that very ideological bias that critique of power is called on to unmask. Hence, Critical Theory faces the risk that the norms it advances as binding might still be an expression of hegemonic forms of consciousness and thus, inadvertently, might grant legitimacy to circumstances of oppression. For Philosophical Liberalism the judgment paradox appeared differently. It is the paradox of achieving normative consensus in conditions of radical social and cultural pluralism. Thus, the communicative turn within Philosophical Liberalism is triggered by the perceived danger of instability, endemic to complex democracies. The remainder of chapter addresses the exchange between Rawls and Habermas and outlines an alternative way of effecting the communicative turn.Less
This chapter first discusses the communicative turn that Rawls and Habermas have undertaken, respectively, in Philosophical Liberalism and Critical Theory, prompted by efforts to resolve the judgment paradox. This paradox appears in different forms in Critical Theory and in Philosophical Liberalism. For Critical Theory it concerns the risk that the justification of norms from an “internal point of view” might engage that very ideological bias that critique of power is called on to unmask. Hence, Critical Theory faces the risk that the norms it advances as binding might still be an expression of hegemonic forms of consciousness and thus, inadvertently, might grant legitimacy to circumstances of oppression. For Philosophical Liberalism the judgment paradox appeared differently. It is the paradox of achieving normative consensus in conditions of radical social and cultural pluralism. Thus, the communicative turn within Philosophical Liberalism is triggered by the perceived danger of instability, endemic to complex democracies. The remainder of chapter addresses the exchange between Rawls and Habermas and outlines an alternative way of effecting the communicative turn.
Anastasia Marinopoulou
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781526105370
- eISBN:
- 9781526128157
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526105370.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This book has aimed to examine dialectics in modern epistemology and to compare it with critical theory, not ‘in order to’ but ‘because’ the latter can offer innovative means of dialectical ...
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This book has aimed to examine dialectics in modern epistemology and to compare it with critical theory, not ‘in order to’ but ‘because’ the latter can offer innovative means of dialectical theorizing. In this way, critical theory has the potential to advance twenty-first century epistemology.The book attempted to avoid old and traditional modes such as ‘biographies’ of scientific terms or historical elaboration or evaluation of epistemological arguments. I also challenged the de-scientification and pre-modern approaches that have returned to the epistemological fore. It is essential for a critical theory of the twenty-first century that it can articulate a political epistemology through the dialectical potential. The book attempted to present and ground the argument that a retreat to de-theorization for the sake of the partiality of empiricism, as well as the post-modern approach, signifies not a space of post-modernity, but rather the process of de-modernization that begins with the instrumentalization of the sciences and extends to the social and the political. In order to avoid social and scientific instrumentality and pre-modern positions, the construction of scientific politics has to be criticized under the perspective of a political epistemology.Less
This book has aimed to examine dialectics in modern epistemology and to compare it with critical theory, not ‘in order to’ but ‘because’ the latter can offer innovative means of dialectical theorizing. In this way, critical theory has the potential to advance twenty-first century epistemology.The book attempted to avoid old and traditional modes such as ‘biographies’ of scientific terms or historical elaboration or evaluation of epistemological arguments. I also challenged the de-scientification and pre-modern approaches that have returned to the epistemological fore. It is essential for a critical theory of the twenty-first century that it can articulate a political epistemology through the dialectical potential. The book attempted to present and ground the argument that a retreat to de-theorization for the sake of the partiality of empiricism, as well as the post-modern approach, signifies not a space of post-modernity, but rather the process of de-modernization that begins with the instrumentalization of the sciences and extends to the social and the political. In order to avoid social and scientific instrumentality and pre-modern positions, the construction of scientific politics has to be criticized under the perspective of a political epistemology.
Larry A. Hickman
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823228416
- eISBN:
- 9780823235544
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823228416.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, American Philosophy
The author presents John Dewey as very much at home in the busy mix of contemporary philosophy — as a thinker whose work now, more than fifty years after his death, still furnishes ...
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The author presents John Dewey as very much at home in the busy mix of contemporary philosophy — as a thinker whose work now, more than fifty years after his death, still furnishes fresh insights into cutting-edge philosophical debates. The author argues that it is precisely the rich, pluralistic mix of contemporary philosophical discourse, with its competing research programs in French-inspired postmodernism, phenomenology, Critical Theory, Heidegger studies, analytic philosophy, and neo-pragmatism — all busily engaging, challenging, and informing one another — that invites renewed examination of Dewey's central ideas. He offers a Dewey who both anticipated some of the central insights of French-inspired postmodernism and, if he were alive today, would certainly be one of its most committed critics, a Dewey who foresaw some of the most trenchant problems associated with fostering global citizenship, and a Dewey whose core ideas are often at odds with those of some of his most ardent neopragmatist interpreters. In the trio of essays that launch this book, Dewey is an observer and critic of some of the central features of French-inspired postmodernism and its American cousin, neopragmatism. In the next four, Dewey enters into dialogue with contemporary critics of technology, including Jürgen Habermas, Andrew Feenberg, and Albert Borgmann. The next two essays establish Dewey as an environmental philosopher of the first rank — a worthy conversation partner for Holmes Rolston III, Baird Callicott, Bryan G. Norton, and Aldo Leopold. The concluding essays provide novel interpretations of Dewey's views of religious belief, the psychology of habit, philosophical anthropology, and what he termed "the epistemology industry."Less
The author presents John Dewey as very much at home in the busy mix of contemporary philosophy — as a thinker whose work now, more than fifty years after his death, still furnishes fresh insights into cutting-edge philosophical debates. The author argues that it is precisely the rich, pluralistic mix of contemporary philosophical discourse, with its competing research programs in French-inspired postmodernism, phenomenology, Critical Theory, Heidegger studies, analytic philosophy, and neo-pragmatism — all busily engaging, challenging, and informing one another — that invites renewed examination of Dewey's central ideas. He offers a Dewey who both anticipated some of the central insights of French-inspired postmodernism and, if he were alive today, would certainly be one of its most committed critics, a Dewey who foresaw some of the most trenchant problems associated with fostering global citizenship, and a Dewey whose core ideas are often at odds with those of some of his most ardent neopragmatist interpreters. In the trio of essays that launch this book, Dewey is an observer and critic of some of the central features of French-inspired postmodernism and its American cousin, neopragmatism. In the next four, Dewey enters into dialogue with contemporary critics of technology, including Jürgen Habermas, Andrew Feenberg, and Albert Borgmann. The next two essays establish Dewey as an environmental philosopher of the first rank — a worthy conversation partner for Holmes Rolston III, Baird Callicott, Bryan G. Norton, and Aldo Leopold. The concluding essays provide novel interpretations of Dewey's views of religious belief, the psychology of habit, philosophical anthropology, and what he termed "the epistemology industry."
