The Long Goodbye: On the Development of Critical Theory
-
Anton Leist
Abstract
It is not easy to give up on a tradition that promises to rationalize, explain, and thereby ultimately help improve, society. This article narrates the history of Critical Theory in three stages, following the dynamics of its own self-criticism during distinct historical periods and within different societies. Horkheimer/Adorno, Habermas and Honneth are read as participating in a philosophical project of societal rationalism which can be criticized by appeal to a pragmatist view of social theories, and specifically the ‘pragmatic maxim’. In spite of its post-metaphysical announcements, Critical Theory overextends itself when it seeks to reconcile fully the normative and the empirical. An alternative, and more explicitly ethical and empirically controllable, scheme for critical theories (plural!) is suggested.
© 2008 by Lucius & Lucius, Stuttgart
Artikel in diesem Heft
- The Long Goodbye: On the Development of Critical Theory
- Die Idee einer Hegelianischen ,Wissenschaft‘ der Gesellschaft
- Logical Empiricism as Critical Theory? The Debate Continues
- On Critical Theory
- Ethics and Social Ontology
- Reconsidering Relational Autonomy. Personal Autonomy for Socially Embedded and Temporally Extended Selves
- On the Concept of Basic Social Norms
- Two Approaches to Shared Intention: An Essay in the Philosophy of Social Phenomena
- Macht und Metamacht
- The Ontology of Social Agency
- Homo Ökonomikus als Idealtypus. Oder: Das Dilemma des Don Juan
- General Equilibrium Theory and the Rationality of Economics
- Was für ein Problem ist der hermeneutische Zirkel?
- On the Relationship between Political Philosophy and Empirical Sciences
- Analyse und Kritik aus Sicht soziologischer Handlungstheorie
- On Some Problems to Apply the Economic Model of Behaviour in Political Science
- Social Rationality, Semi-Modularity and Goal-Framing: What Is It All About?
- Theory and Empirical Research in Analytical Sociology: The Case of Cooperation in Problematic Social Situations
- Economic Imperialism
- Inseln der Rationalität: Wie überwindet man fehlerhafte Entscheidungen auf dem Markt, in der Wissenschaft und in der Politik?
Artikel in diesem Heft
- The Long Goodbye: On the Development of Critical Theory
- Die Idee einer Hegelianischen ,Wissenschaft‘ der Gesellschaft
- Logical Empiricism as Critical Theory? The Debate Continues
- On Critical Theory
- Ethics and Social Ontology
- Reconsidering Relational Autonomy. Personal Autonomy for Socially Embedded and Temporally Extended Selves
- On the Concept of Basic Social Norms
- Two Approaches to Shared Intention: An Essay in the Philosophy of Social Phenomena
- Macht und Metamacht
- The Ontology of Social Agency
- Homo Ökonomikus als Idealtypus. Oder: Das Dilemma des Don Juan
- General Equilibrium Theory and the Rationality of Economics
- Was für ein Problem ist der hermeneutische Zirkel?
- On the Relationship between Political Philosophy and Empirical Sciences
- Analyse und Kritik aus Sicht soziologischer Handlungstheorie
- On Some Problems to Apply the Economic Model of Behaviour in Political Science
- Social Rationality, Semi-Modularity and Goal-Framing: What Is It All About?
- Theory and Empirical Research in Analytical Sociology: The Case of Cooperation in Problematic Social Situations
- Economic Imperialism
- Inseln der Rationalität: Wie überwindet man fehlerhafte Entscheidungen auf dem Markt, in der Wissenschaft und in der Politik?
