Showing papers on "Critical theory published in 1993"

Time, Labor, and Social Domination: A Reinterpretation of Marx's Critical Theory

Abstract: Part I. A Critique of Traditional Marxism: 1. Rethinking Marx's critique of capitalism 2. Presuppositions of traditional Marxism 3. The limits of traditional Marxism and the pessimistic turn of Critical Theory Part II. Toward a Reconstruction of the Marxian Critique: The Commodity 4. Abstract labor 5. Abstract time 6. Habermas's critique of Marx Part III. Toward a Reconstruction of the Marxian Critique: capital 7. Toward a theory of capital 8. The dialectic of labor and time 9. The trajectory of production 10. Concluding considerations.

Back to the rough ground : 'phronesis' and 'techne' in modern philosophy and in Aristotle

Abstract: Our society has come to think that truth lies in the area of the measurable, of empirical evidence and objective analysis, that particular mode of rationality called "technical reason", and that the knowledge of this mode is what is needed to guide humankind in all areas of practice. In this work, Joseph Dunne develops a philosophical context for exposing the limits of technical reason and for analysing the practical knowledge that informs successful activity in different domains. Dunne begins by examining the retrieval of Aristotle's distinction between phronesis/praxis and techne/poiesis in the work of John Henry Newman, R.G. Collingwood and Hannah Arendt. He then discusses the universal significance claimed for the Aristotelian distinction in the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer, and examines how the distinction is both invoked and eventually challenged in the critical theory of Jurgen Habermas. "Back to the Rough Ground" then examines the two central categories in Aristotle's own texts, emphasising the theoretical inclination of techne and the inescapably personal and experimential nature of phronesis. The book concludes by reviewing the main themes of the work - the nature of experience, practice, language and finitude, the limits of reason, and the need for a reconstruction of the whole modern philosophy of consciousness. Dunne suggests implications for different areas of study, and situates the volume within the context of current philosophical debates, especially with regard to universalism and post-modernism.

The Giddens reader

Abstract: Acknowledgements - Abbreviations - Introduction - PART 1 ENCOUNTERS WITH THE CLASSICAL TRADITIONS - Critical Interpretations of Marx - The Political Context of Max Weber's Sociology - Durkheim's Political Sociology - Marx, Weber and Capitalism - PART 2 PROBLEMS OF ACTION AND STRUCTURE - Social Theory and the Question of Action - The Production and Reproduction of Social Life - The Concept of Structure - Structure, Action, Reproduction - Lay Knowledge and Technical Concepts - Structural Theory and Empirical Research - PART 3 TIME, AND SPACE - Time-Space, Structure, System - Time-Space Distanciation - Analysing Social Change - The Production of Everyday Life - PART 4 DOMINATION AND POWER - Parsons on Power - Critique of Foucault - Class Structuration - Class and Power - Administrative Power and the Nation-State - The Nation-State and Military Power - PART 5 THE NATURE OF MODERNITY - A 'Discontinuist' Approach - Dynamic Tendencies of Modernity - Trust and Risk in Social Life - Modernity and Self-Identity - Love and Sexuality - PART 6 CRITICAL THEORY - Max Weber on Facts and Values - Critical Theory Without Guarantees - Utopian Realism - Emancipatory and Life Politics - Selected Bibliography - Index

Rethinking translation : discourse, subjectivity, ideology

Abstract: "Rethinking Translation" aims to make the translator's activity more visible by engaging with recent developments in critical theory to study the discourses and institutions which determine the production, circulation and reception of translated texts. Animated by different varieties of Marxism, psychoanalysis, feminism and poststructuralism and written in some cases by practising translators, this book constitutes a rethinking of translation that is both philosophical and political. Translations in a number of genres are examined, including Gothic tales, modern poetry, scientific treatises and postmodern narratives, and various national literatures are addressed - French, German, Italian, Latin, American, Quebecois and Arabic. "Rethinking Translation" challenges the marginality of translators by demonstrating the power they wield in the formation of literary canons, the functioning of cultural institutions and the construction of national identities.

Ideals and Illusions: On Reconstruction and Deconstruction in Contemporary Critical Theory

Abstract: These lucid and closely reasoned studies of the thought of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Jurgen Habermas, and Richard Rorty provide a coherent analysis of major pathways in recent critical theory. They defend a position analogous to Kant's - that ideas of reason are "both "unavoi

Hegel: Three Studies

Abstract: This short masterwork in twentieth-century philosophy provides both a major reinterpretation of Hegel and insight into the evolution of Adorno's critical theory. The first study focuses on the relationship of reason, the individual, and society in Hegel, defending him against the criticism that he was merely an apologist for bourgeois society. The second study examines the experiential content of Hegel's idealism, considering the notion of experience in relation to immediacy, empirical reality, science, and society. The third study, "Skoteinos," is an unusual and fascinating essay in which Adorno lays out his thoughts on understanding Hegel. In his reflections, which spring from his experience teaching at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, questions of textual and philosophical interpretation are intertwined.Rescuing the truth value of Hegel's work is a recurring theme of the critical theory of the Frankfurt School, and nowhere is this goal pursued with more insight than in these three studies. The core problem Adorno sets for himself is how to read Hegel in a way that comprehends both the work and its historical context, thereby allowing conclusions to be drawn that may seem on the surface to be exactly opposed to what Hegel wrote but that are, nevertheless, valid as the present truth of the work. It is the elaboration of this method of interpretation, a negative dialectic, that was Adorno's underlying goal.Adorno's efforts to salvage the contemporaneity of Hegel's thought form part of his response to the increasingly tight net of social control in the aftermath of World War II. In this, his work is related to the very different attempts to undermine reified thinking undertaken by the various French theorists. The continued development of what Adorno called "the administered world" has only increased the relevance of his efforts.

Between Philosophy and Social Science: Selected Early Writings

Abstract: This collection of essays focuses on his Horkheimer's contributions to critical theory in the 1930s. Included are his inaugural address as director of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research, in which he outlines the interdisciplinary research programme that would dominate the initial phase of the Frankfurt School; his first full monograph; and a number of other pieces published in the 1930s. The essays, most of which have not appeared in English before, are surprisingly relevant to current post-philosophy debates, notably "On the Problem of Truth", with its focus on pragmatism, and "The Rationalism Debate in Current Philosophy", a sustained critique of the post-Cartesian philosophy of consciousness. Horkheimer's 1933 critique of Kantian ethics, "Materialism and Morality", is of particular interest given the current foundations debate within Continential philosophy, and the rationality/relativism question is sustained throughout the volume.

Rethinking Critical Theory: Emancipation in the Age of Global Social Movements

Abstract: Introduction Marx, Critical Theory and Social Movements PART ONE Authority and Tradition From Praxis to Communication Communication and Evolution Social Movements and the Lifeworld PART TWO Introduction Legitimation in Peripheral States The Crisis of State Socialism Islamic Jacobins State, 'Race' and Regulation Conclusion Modernity's Unfinished Business

System and Writing in the Philosophy of Jacques Derrida

Abstract: This is an important, critical analysis of Derrida's theory of writing, based upon close readings of key texts ranging from his stringent critique of structuralist criticism to his sympathetic and dialogical analysis of Freud's scriptural models. It reveals a dimension of Derrida's thinking which, although consistently present in his works, has been neglected in favour of those 'deconstructionist' cliches used in much recent literary criticism. Christopher Johnson highlights the special character of Derrida's philosophy that comes from the fertilising contact that Derrida has had with contemporary natural science and with systems theory. In addition, he shows how Derrida's philosophy of system and writing rejoins an atomist and materialist tradition repressed by centuries of idealist metaphysics. This study casts fresh light on an exacting set of intellectual issues facing philosophy and critical theory today.

Critical Theories of the State: Marxist, Neomarxist, Postmarxist

Abstract: "Critical Theories of the State" is a survey of radical perspectives on the modern state. By focusing on Marxist theory and its variations, particularly as applied to advanced industrial societies and contemporary welfare states, Clyde W. Barrow provides an extensive and thorough treatment of the topic. Barrow divides the methodological assumptions and key hypotheses of Marxist, neo-Marxist and post-Marxist theories into five distinct approaches: instrumentalist, structuralist, derivationist, systems-analytic and organisational realist. He categorises the many theorists discussed in the book, including such thinkers as Elmer Altvater, G. William Domhoff, Fred Block, Claus Offe and Theda Skocpol, according to their concepts of the state's relationship to capital and their methodological approach to the state. Based on this survey, Barrow elaborates a compelling typology of radical state theories that indentifies with remarkable clarity points of overlap and divergence among the various theories. Scholars conducting research within the rubric of state theory, political development, and policy history should find "Critical Theories of the State" a valuable review of the literature. Moreover, Barrow's work should make a useful textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in political science and sociology, and can also be used by those teaching theory courses in international relations, history and political economy.

The demise of dialogue: A critique of medical encounter ideology

Abstract: The traditional ideology of medical care places constraints upon communication in the medical encounter. A dialogic critique of understanding and social context in the provider‐patient relationship embraces both the given and created meanings communicated. Drawing from dialogical theory and a critical theory of medical discourse this research analyzes providers' and patients' interpretations of communication in their relationship with one another to identify their critical attention or inattention to understanding and social context.

Marxism and the environmental question: From the critical theory of production to an environmental rationality for sustainable development∗

Abstract: (1993). Marxism and the environmental question: From the critical theory of production to an environmental rationality for sustainable development. Capitalism Nature Socialism: Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 44-66.

The contribution of critical theory to our understanding of adult learning

Abstract: Jurgen Habermas's works help us to think imaginatively about knowledge, learnining, and the human condition. Many adult educators draw on his ideas to provide them with and ideal standard for their education practice and a deep understanding of the cardinal purpose of the adult education vocation.

Critical Theory and The English Teacher: Transforming the Subject

Abstract: In this radical exploration, Nick Peim, himself a practising English teacher, shows how teachers can use critical theory to bring students' own experience back into the subject. The author explains how the insights of discourse theory, psychoanalysis, semiotics and deconstruction can be used on the material of modern culture as well as on and in oral work. The book is written in a style which even those with no background in critical theory will find approachable, and arguments are backed up with practical classroom examples.

Psychoanalytic-Marxism: Groundwork

Abstract: In this important new work, Eugene Victor Wolfenstein rejects the reduction of psychoanalysis to conformist psychology and Marxism to Stalinist orthodoxy Instead, he illuminates the critical and emancipatory force of both traditions He persuasively argues for a binocular' view that integrates interests rooted in work and economic production with desires based in emotional life and human reproduction Without obscuring the obvious differences between psychoanalytic and Marxist theories, his integrative approach provides the reader with a clearer, more complete understanding of modern societyThe book opens with a review of the work of Marx and Freud, the classical Freudian-Marxists (Reich, Fromm and Marcuse) and such recent thinkers as Habermas, Benjamin, Kovel, and Lichtman Wolfenstein then develops the foundation for a psychoanalytic-marxist theory and practice He reconceptualizes praxis and dialectics, and history and human nature, and presents a framework for social analysis The book's final section utilizes these grounding notions for the analysis of class, gender, and race; psychoanalytic practice; and political practice (the modern state and its potential transformation)Written in a bold and unusually lucid style, PSYCHOANALYTIC- MARXISM will serve as a benchmark for all further reflection on this topic It offers fresh insights for those with an interest in psychoanalysis, Marxism, and a broad range of related concerns: philosophy, the modernism/postmodernism debates, feminist theory, African-American studies, critical social theory, political theory, history, and sociology

A New Constitutionalism: Designing Political Institutions for a Good Society

Abstract: In "The New Constitutionalism," seven distinguished scholars develop an innovative perspective on the power of institutions to shape politics and political life. Believing that constitutionalism needs to go beyond the classical goal of limiting the arbitrary exercise of political power, the contributors argue that it should-and can-be designed to achieve economic efficiency, informed democratic control, and other valued political ends. More broadly, they believe that political and social theory needs to turn away from the negativism of critical theory to consider how a good society should be "constituted" and to direct the work of designing institutions that can constitute a "good polity," in both the economic and civic senses. Stephen L. Elkin and Karol Edward Soltan begin with an overview of constitutionalist theory and a discussion of the new constitutionalism within the broader intellectual and historical context of political and social thought. Charles Anderson, James Ceaser, and the editors then offer different interpretations of the central issues regarding institutional design in a constitutionalist social science, consider various ways of performing the task, and discuss the inadequacy of recent political science to the job it ought to be doing. The book concludes with essays by Ted Lowi, Cass Sunstein and Edwin Haefele which apply these themes to the American regime.

Authenticity, communication, and critical theory

Abstract: This essay deals with the notion of authenticity in the study of communication by tracing its treatment in the literature of recent social theory, particularly Critical Theory. It suggests that the search for the authentic has been a historically grounded intellectual concern with considerations of creative practices serving to recover the authentic in contemporary life. The essay concludes by acknowledging the need of Critical Theory to address the challenges of postmodern thought and the potential of popular culture in an emancipatory struggle.

Cultural-Political Interventions in the Unfinished Project of Enlightenment

Abstract: Part 1 Critical theory and political practice: domination or emancipation? the debate over the heritage of critical theory, Helmut Dubiel disorder is possible - an essay on systems, laws, and disobedience, Gunter Frankenberg autonomy, modernity, and community - communitarianism and critical social theory in dialogue, Seyla Benhabib. Part 2 The sociology of political culture: bindings, shackles, brakes - on self-limitation, Claus Offe politics and culture - on the sociocultural analysis of political participation, Klaus Eder politics and the reconstruction of the concept of civil society, Jean cohen and Andrew Arato. Part 3 Historical-philosophical reflections on culture: culture and Bourgeois society - the unity fo reason in a divided society, Hauke Brunkhorst culture and media, Hans-George Gadamer anamnestic reason - a theologian's remarks on the crisis in the "Geisteswissenschaften", Johann Baptist Metz. Part 4 Moral development in childhood and society: moral development and social struggle - Hegel's early social-philosophical doctrines, Axel Honneth knowing and wanting - on moral development in early childhood, Gertrud Nunner-Winkler. Part 5 Foundations of critical social theory: world interpretation and mutual understanding, Johann P. Arnason power, politics, autonomy, Cornelius Castoriadis.

Knowledge, Higher Education and Society: a postmodern problem

Abstract: In modern society, knowledge, higher education and society act upon each other as separate forces. Two contemporary analytical frameworks help to illuminate this triangle of forces, but the stories they tell seem opposed to each other. Critical theory points up the skewed character of rationality in modern society: on this view, the changing definitions of knowledge in higher education can be said to be a shift in the direction of instrumental reason, with other (hermeneutic and critical) forms of reason being down‐played. Postmodernism, on the other hand, argues not for any such one‐dimensionality but underscores a heterogeneity of thought forms. Higher education can be viewed in this way, too: the university is a social institution which celebrates differentiation of forms of thought. Can the circle be squared? Can these differences between critical theory and postmodernism—as interpretations of higher education—be reconciled? This paper argues that they can be.

Postnational Identity: Critical Theory and Existential Philosophy in Habermas, Kierkegaard, and Havel

Abstract: Contradictory interpretations have been applied to history-making events that led to the end of the cold war: Vaclav Havel, using Kierkegaardian terms, called the demise of totalitarianism in east-central Europe an "existential revolution"' (i.e. an awakening of human responsibility, spirit, and reason), while others hailed it as a victory for the "New World Order." Regardless of one's point of view, however, it is clear that the global landscape has been dramatically altered. Where once the competition between capitalism and communism provided a basis for establishing political- and self-identity, today, the destructive forces of nationalist identity and religious and secular fundamentalism are filling the void. In his timely and significant new work, Martin J. Matutik synthesizes the critical social theory of J rgen Habermas with the existentialism of Havel and Soren Kierkegaard to present an alternative to the conceptualization of identity based on nationalism that is stoking the flames of civil wars in Europe and racial and ethnic tensions in eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and the United States. In so doing, he reinvigorates critical social theory, and points the way toward a multicultural, post-national identity and a democracy capable of resisting both imperial consensus and xenophobic backlash. Offering the most extensive examination of Habermas's and Kierkegaard's critiques of nationalist identity available, Postnational Identity dramatically confronts the traditional view of existential philosophy as antisocial and uncritical. This volume shows how Kierkegaardian theory and practice of radically honest communication allows us to rethink the existential in terms of Habermas's communicative action, and vice versa. As the author explains the foundations of his work in the Preface: Critical theory and existential philosophy, brought together in this book, engender two forms of suspicion of the present age. The critical theorist, such as J rgen Habermas, unmasks the forms in which social and cultural life become systematically distorted by the imperatives of political power and economic gain. The existential critic, like Soren Kierkegaard and Vaclav Havel, is suspicious of the various ways in which individuals deceive themselves or other people. This study aims to integrate Kierkegaard's and Havel's existential critique of motives informing human identity formation with Habermas's critique of the colonialization of fragmented, anomic modern life by systems of power and money....My argument is that existential critique and social critique complement each other and overcome their respective limitations. Organized into three distinct sections, the book begins with a study of individual and group identity in Habermas's work on communicative ethics. This section draws on Habermas's readings of Kant, Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, Mead, and Durkheim. Part Two uses Kierkegaard's existential ethics to broaden Habermas's notion of identity. The argument proceeds from the performative character of existential individuality to Kierkegaard's theory and practice of communication, and, finally, to the regulative community ideal projected in his critique of the present age. In the book's final section, the author addresses the question of identity to the nationalist strife of the present age. Overall, the book sets forth the argument that a move from fundamentalist constructions of identity to postnational, open, and multicultural identity is a critical ideal on which both the existential and socio-political suspicion of the present age converge. Postnational Identity is addressed to the three multicultural audiences that gave it shape: western Europe, eastern Europe, and the United States. One of the first works to treat seriously the existential thought of Vaclav Havel, the book will hold enormous appeal for students and professionals involved in existential philosophy, critical theory, philosophy, and, more generally, political science, literary theory, communications, and cultural studies.

Gender, Culture, and Power: Toward a Feminist Postmodern Critical Theory

Abstract: Critical Theory and Postmodernity Postmodernism and the End of Politics 1: New French Theory Postmodernism and the End of Politics 2: Feminist Theory Producing Reproduction: The Logic of Feminist Postmodern Critical Theory Critical Theory and Everyday Life 1: Against Economism Critical Theory and Everyday Life 2: Desire, Discourse and Domination Bibliography Index

The voice in the margin : native American literature and the canon

Abstract: In its consideration of American Indian literature as a rich and exciting body of work, "The Voice in the Margin" invites us to broaden our notion of what a truly inclusive American literature might be, and of how it might be placed in relation to an international - a "cosmopolitan" - literary canon. The book comes at a time when the most influential national media have focused attention on the subject of the literary canon. They have made it an issue not merely of academic but of general public concern, expressing strong opinions on the subject of what the American student should or should not read as essential or core texts. Is the literary canon simply a given of tradition and history, or is it, and must it be, constantly under construction? The question remains hotly contested to the present moment.Arnold Krupat argues that the literary expression of the indigenous peoples of the United States has claims on us to more than marginal attention. Demonstrating a firm grasp of both literary history and contemporary critical theory, he situates Indian literature, traditional and modern, in a variety of contexts and categories. His extensive knowledge of the history and current theory of ethnography recommends the book to anthropologists and folklorists as well as to students and teachers of literature, both canonical and noncanonical. The materials covered, the perspectives considered, and the learning displayed all make "The Voice in the Margin" a major contribution to the exciting field of contemporary cultural studies.

On Knowing: Cultural and Critical Approaches to Educational Administration

Abstract: vers and Lakomski in their recent book f~ Knowing Educational Administration (1991) have presented us with several philosophical analyses of various approaches to educa tional administration. Such analyses are to be welcomed as a contribution to the development of the field inasmuch as they both clarify and provide evaluations of particular positions. Such analyses should provide useful ground for the further development of more.. adequate

Aesthetics, Play, and Cultural Memory: Giddens and Habermas on the Postmodern Challenge

Abstract: This essay examines the response of Habermas to Giddens to postmodern criticism of modernity. Although Giddens and Habermas recognize that the « totalizing critique » of postructuralism lacks a convincing analysis of social interaction, neither of their perspectives adequately addresses the postmodern themes of aesthetics, play, and cultural memory. Giddens and Habermas believe that these dimensions of social life are important ; yet they remain underdevelopped in their approaches. This essay explores the theoritical consequences of aesthetics, play, and cultural traditions for social theory, drawing on the pragmatists, the psychoanalyst Winnicott, and early critical theory.

Postcultural Theory: Critical Theory After The Marxist Paradigm

Abstract: Critical theory and the Marxist paradigm limits of the Marxist paradigm - the case of the plural and decentred subject the other body of man in Derrida, Levinas, Lacoue-Labarthe, Nancy and Borch-Jakobsen the logic of both/and factitive fictions and possible worlds the critic as translator.