Search Results

Conclusion

Uwe Steinhoff

in The Philosophy of Jürgen Habermas: A Critical Introduction

The results are summarised along with further critical comments on Habermas' methodology.

Dialogic Foundations

Andrew Vincent

in The Nature of Political Theory

Examines the intellectual context of the works of Jürgen Habermas and Hans‐Georg Gadamer. Both thinkers successfully utilize language and dialogue to develop a viable perspective on political theory, ... More

Examines the intellectual context of the works of Jürgen Habermas and Hans‐Georg Gadamer. Both thinkers successfully utilize language and dialogue to develop a viable perspective on political theory, which does not succumb to postmodern or conventionalist critique. The linking element underpinning all these discussions is the focus on language and dialogue as the central facets of political theory. This chapter examines the inception of critical theory and then provides a detailed review of the contribution of Habermas to contemporary political theory.Less

Liberal Democracy and the Critical Alternative

John S. Dryzek

in Deliberative Democracy and Beyond: Liberals, Critics, Contestations

Recounts the roots of the deliberative turn in democratic theory in liberalism and critical theory. Losing sight of its critical theory origins, deliberative democracy gains an ever‐closer ... More

Recounts the roots of the deliberative turn in democratic theory in liberalism and critical theory. Losing sight of its critical theory origins, deliberative democracy gains an ever‐closer association with the institutions of the liberal state. As an alternative, this chapter lays the foundations for an account of discursive democracy grounded in a critical theory of communicative action.Less

Constructing Policy Theory: Ideas, Language, and Discourse

Frank Fischer

in Reframing Public Policy: Discursive Politics and Deliberative Practices

This chapter examines the renewed interest in the role of ideas, language and discourse in policy studies. Distinguishing postempiricist from mainstream perspectives, the discussion sets the stage ... More

This chapter examines the renewed interest in the role of ideas, language and discourse in policy studies. Distinguishing postempiricist from mainstream perspectives, the discussion sets the stage for a more detailed presentation of the discourse–analytic approach and the deliberative practices to which it gives rise. There are seven main sections: Reconsidering Ideas; Beyond Self-Interest: Ideas Matter; Neo-Institutionalism and Policy Ideas (neo-institutionalism is defined as a theoretical orientation that has focused on the evolutionary relationship of ideas and norms to institutional practices); Policy Communities, Issue Networks, and Learning –– the studies discussed include Heclo’s (1978) seminal conceptualization of issue networks, and the work of Haas (1992) on policy communities and networks; Critical Theory: Distorted Communication and Discursive Ideals –– this looks at the critical theory of Habermas, which supplies a normative ideal for communication and argumentation; Discourse of Power V this looks at Foucault’s focus on the role of discourses as they have functioned in specific historical contexts; and Postempiricism as Discursive Policy Inquiry.Less

The Failure of Discourse Ethics and the Theory of Communicative Action in Their Attempted Empirical Demonstration and Application to Politics, Law and Society

Uwe Steinhoff

in The Philosophy of Jürgen Habermas: A Critical Introduction

The chapter provides a detailed description and critical discussion of Habermas' attempts to make the theory of communicative action and discourse ethics fruitful beyond the narrower moral and ... More

The chapter provides a detailed description and critical discussion of Habermas' attempts to make the theory of communicative action and discourse ethics fruitful beyond the narrower moral and ethical realm and, conversely, to find confirmation for it in empirical theories. Habermas refers to the research areas of psychology and social evolution and to political and sociological issues around which the “Critical Theory of Society” is to take concrete form. Concerning psychology, he develops or adopts theories of ego-development, moral development and “communication pathologies”. As it concerns social evolution he proposes theories of hominisation and socio-cultural evolution. In dealing with the political and sociological issues he is most productive, offering a theory of social order, his famous colonialisation thesis, his discourse theory of law and the constitutional state, and his theory of modernity.Less

What Children Really Need: Towards a Critical Theory of Family Structure

Shelley Burtt

in The Moral and Political Status of Children

The ’new familists’ argue that sociological evidence on the relation between traditional two‐parent nuclear family and positive outcomes for their children justifies public‐policy measures aimed at ... More

The ’new familists’ argue that sociological evidence on the relation between traditional two‐parent nuclear family and positive outcomes for their children justifies public‐policy measures aimed at promoting this type of family. But the success of such families is due to the fact that many other institutional arrangements advantage this type of family. Such a family typically involves a sexist division of domestic labour. A ’critical theory of family structure’ identifies the developmental needs of children and examines the ways in which various family structures can function to meet these needs.Less

 Locating Difference: Theological Imagination, Narrative Expression, and Critical Discourse

Michael Patrick Murphy

in A Theology of Criticism: Balthasar, Postmodernism, and the Catholic Imagination

In addition to laying out a general groundwork for the Catholic imagination as a critical lens—and suggesting a variety of ways that the work of Hans Urs von Balthasar aids critics in articulating ... More

In addition to laying out a general groundwork for the Catholic imagination as a critical lens—and suggesting a variety of ways that the work of Hans Urs von Balthasar aids critics in articulating such a theological vision—the chapter also attempts to locate the particular phenomena of postmodernism and deconstruction within the intersection of theology and narrative art. Balthasar anticipates the tendency of current critical theory to privilege and emphasize the amorphous breadth of both linguistic and cultural expression; and he anticipates the critical tension between those who read Catholicism as theological truth and those that might read Catholicism as a “fluctuating signifier,” as a cultural and/or literary text. Under this general theme, a dialog is opened with such diverse critics as William Lynch, Paul Giles, Michel De Certeau, and Jacques Derrida. Like them, Balthasar's theology plots a route for appreciating the aesthetic complexity and theological possibility of a broadly canvassed intertextuality and interdisciplinarity. However, Balthasar's program also defends the critical uniqueness of certain theological commitments (e.g., the transcendentals, the Incarnation, and the trinitarian structure of being) and looks to the arts to demonstrate the formal expression and aesthetic span of these phenomena. The chapter concludes with the proposition that it is the recognition of these essential questions that both challenge and aid the articulation of a Catholic imagination and that a turn to representative work in literature, poetry, and film will aid in such an articulation.Less

The Science Wars, Ecology, and the Left

Dana Phillips

in The Truth of Ecology: Nature, Culture, Literature in America

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 ... More

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

Critique

Samuel A. Chambers

in The Lessons of Rancière

Rancière has never made the question of critical theory his explicit focus, but this chapter traces an important thread concerning this question—a thread that runs across the entirety of Rancière's ... More

Rancière has never made the question of critical theory his explicit focus, but this chapter traces an important thread concerning this question—a thread that runs across the entirety of Rancière's writings, from his earliest publication in 1965 in the famous seminar of Louis Althusser. The chapter shows how Rancière begins with a notion of critique that rests on the traditional logic of inversion, in which a false appearance is unmasked to locate the true essence underneath. However, Rancière soon comes to reject this logic of inversion (despite sometimes falling back on it himself), and in recent writings he has pointed toward the possibility of a new critical dispositif that does not rely on inversion. This chapter pushes this line of argument far beyond where Rancière has taken it, making the case for a new critical dispositif that rejects inversion and links up with Rancière's radical pedagogy.Less

Introduction 1

Sally Haslanger

in Resisting Reality: Social Construction and Social Critique

This chapter introduces the main themes of the book and provides summaries of background ideas in feminist theory and analytic philosophy that are helpful for understanding the material that follows. ... More

This chapter introduces the main themes of the book and provides summaries of background ideas in feminist theory and analytic philosophy that are helpful for understanding the material that follows. Discussions cover issues concerning the sex/gender distinction, externalism in philosophy of language, the methodological aims of critical social theory, and feminist epistemology with an eye to showing how feminist theory contributes to and draws upon debates in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of language and related areas of analytic philosophy.Less

Jews, Theory, and Ends

Shai Ginsburg, Martin Land, and Jonathan Boyarin

in Jews and the Ends of Theory

This introductory chapter discusses the intersections of the terms Jews, theory, and ends. These intersections have informed strategies of scholarly and intellectual engagements with society, ... More

This introductory chapter discusses the intersections of the terms Jews, theory, and ends. These intersections have informed strategies of scholarly and intellectual engagements with society, culture, history, and politics that informed the “human sciences” in Western and Central Europe and North America. Often, such strategies came to be grouped together under the monikers criticism, theory, or, at times, critical theory. The chapter then considers the question of Jewishness in relation to critical theory. Tracing the spectral figure of the Jew in theory, the chapters put forward “spectral reading,” one that entails appellation: identification and naming. In light of the great catastrophes that have befallen Jews, which were often accompanied by the endeavor to extricate culture from the figure of the Jew and the Jewishness of the figure, spectral reading has often been an endeavor to excavate traces of a past that cannot be thought of but under the sign of violence.Less

Sustainable Critique and Critical IR Theory: Against Emancipation

Daniel J. Levine

in Recovering International Relations: The Promise of Sustainable Critique

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 ... More

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

Thinking through feeling: critical theory and the affective turn

Simon Mussell

in Critical Theory and Feeling: The Affective Politics of the Early Frankfurt School

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 ... More

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