Oxford Reference: Critical Theory

7-1-2018 Critical theory - Oxford Reference
Oxford Reference
A Dictionary of Critical Theory

Ian Buchanan
Publisher: Oxford University Press Print Publication Date: 2010

Print ISBN-13: 9780199532919 Published online: 2010
Current Online Version: 2010 eISBN: 9780191726590
critical theory
1. The term coined by Max Horkheimer in 1937 to describe the work of the Frankfurt School. Defined against the
traditional conception of theory governing the sciences (including the social or human sciences such as sociology), which
holds that it is a system of abstract (i.e. ahistorical, asubjective, and asocial) propositions which can be verified empirically,
critical theory holds the opposite view, namely that theory is historical, subjective, and a part of society. Critical theory is in
this regard a highly reflexive enterprise—it is never satisfied with asking what something means or how it works, it also
has to ask what is at stake in asking such questions in the first place.
Indeed, critical theory takes self-reflexivity a step further and asks whether or not its objects of research are not artefacts of
the theory. Recent work by critical theorists like Donna Harraway, who writes about the relationship between humans and
animals, has shown the degree to which this concern is justified. For critical theorists, the idea that it is possible to derive
‘mind-independent’ concepts, that is, concepts that do not involve the subjectivity of the theorist in some way in either their
conception or application, is both illusory and ideological. The attempt to separate concepts from their producers, gives rise
to what Horkheimer scathingly referred to as instrumental reason. Thus critical theory is ultimately concerned with what it
is possible to know, given that the ontological status of neither the subject nor the object of theory can be taken for granted.
The word ‘critical’ should thus be understood to mean, as it does in Immanuel Kant's work, the opposite of ‘analytical’: it
refers to the set of concepts whose reach is always and of necessity greater than their grasp. For example, we can neither
see, hold, nor properly think something as vast as the universe, in its totality, yet without the concept of the universe we
would be unable to situate ourselves in time and space. The same can be said of concepts like nation, society, community,
politics, and so on, all of which are necessary for thinking about the state of the world, even though none are verifiable in a
strictly scientific sense.
In general, critical theory explores the connections, overlaps, intersections, and interferences between the three spheres of
economic development, psychic life, and culture. Its starting premise, derived in part from Karl Marx, but also inspired by
Émile Durkheim and Max Weber, is that midway through the 19th century the world as a whole underwent a major
transformation and entered a new period of history known as modernity. This entails three consequences: tradition cannot
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be used as a guide for thinking about either the present or the future; society has splintered into semi-autonomous sub-
systems (e.g. the market, the various professions, industry), making it difficult but necessary to find ways of speaking of
‘the whole’; the good, the true, and the beautiful have been disaggregated, presenting new challenges to ethics, philosophy
and aesthetics.
Under such conditions, critical theory is interested in why human society has (in its eyes) failed to live up to the promise of
enlightenment and become what it is today, unequal, unjust, and largely uncaring. Witnesses to the barbarity of both the
First and Second World Wars, the first generation of critical theorists can perhaps be forgiven for the bleakness of their
outlook.
2. Today the term is also used to refer—very loosely, it has to be said—to any form of theorizing in the humanities and
social sciences, even when this isn't politically consistent with the outlook of the original Frankfurt School. This has tended
to empty the term of any meaning and rendered both its political and methodological concerns invisible.
Further Reading:
S. Bronner Of Critical Theory and its Theorists (1994).
Find this resource:
D. Couzens Hoy and T. McCarthy Critical Theory (1994).

Find this resource:
P. Dews Logics of Disintegration (1987).

Find this resource:
D. Frisby Fragments of Modernity (1985).

Find this resource:
D. Held Introduction to Critical Theory (1980).

Find this resource:
F. Rush (ed.)The Cambridge Companion to Critical Theory (2004).

Find this resource:
P. Stirk Critical Theory, Politics and Society (2000).

Find this resource:
http://www.uta.edu/huma/illuminations/ A collection of resources, based in the Frankfurt School of thought, from many
contemporary writers of and about critical theory, as well as links to other websites.
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Subscriber: Utrecht University Library; date: 07 January 2018

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What is critical theory?

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7-1-2018 Critical theory - Oxford Reference

A Dictionary of Critical Theory

Publisher: Oxford University Press Print Publication Date: 2010

D. Couzens Hoy and T. McCarthy Critical Theory (1994).

P. Dews Logics of Disintegration (1987).

D. Frisby Fragments of Modernity (1985).

D. Held Introduction to Critical Theory (1980).

F. Rush (ed.)The Cambridge Companion to Critical Theory (2004).

P. Stirk Critical Theory, Politics and Society (2000).

WAS THIS USEFUL? Yes No

Subscriber: Utrecht University Library; date: 07 January 2018

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