Elizabeth Grosz, The Incorporeal: Ontology, Ethics, and the Limits of Materialism

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-58
Author(s):  
Martin E. Turkis ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Critical Theorist

Critical theorist Elizabeth Grosz moves beyond the New Materialism she previously espoused and argues for a monism that avoids reductive materialism, holding that materiality is inconceivable without its immaterial frame. She also argues that this position ought to serve as the basis for an immanent and non-normative ontoethics. I give a summation and review of the book before offering an argument against such an approach to ethics. I also offer a related critique of the tendency, widespread within critical theory, to consider all transcendence oppressive.

Horkheimer, Max (1895–1973)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Edgar
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
The Political ◽  
Pablo Picasso ◽  
Columbia University ◽  
The Social ◽  
Critical Theorist ◽  
The University

Born near Stuttgart, Germany, the philosopher Max Horkheimer, who obtained his doctorate from the University of Frankfurt, is best known as a leader of the Frankfurt School, along with Theodor W. Adorno and Jürgen Habermas. From 1930 to 1958 (with a significant hiatus from 1934 to 1948), Horkheimer served as the Director of the Institut für Sozialforschung (Frankfurt Institute for Social Research), founded in 1923 to promote multidisciplinary research in the social sciences with a particular focus on Marxian thought; along with his colleague Adorno, Horkheimer was responsible for developing the distinctive form of Marxist philosophy that framed this research through the methodologies of German critical theory. Instead of just describing social systems through "objective" means, critical theory would endeavor to uncover the social context and raise questions about truth and social justice, acknowledging also that critical theory cannot produce universal truths. At best, the critical theorist simply expresses the contradictions and falsehoods of the society within which they work. Critical theory was applied in a sweeping analysis of Western civilization in Dialektik der Aufklärung (1947; Dialectic of Enlightenment), in which Adorno and Horkheimer argued that the progress of enlightened Western culture was simultaneously a regression into a new barbarism and an entanglement in myth. In modernist art, such as the work of James Joyce and Pablo Picasso, Horkheimer identified a crucial source of resistance to the political and economic oppression of late capitalist society. Horkheimer, who was Jewish, escaped Nazi Germany and taught at Columbia University from 1935 to 1941; he lived in Los Angeles during the 1940s, but eventually returned to Germany where died in Nuremburg in 1973.

scholarly journals FEMINISME SEBAGAI KRITIK KAPITALISME: MEMPERKENALKAN TEORI KRITIS NANCY FRASER

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 235
Author(s):  
Amin Mudzakkir
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Gender Analysis ◽  
Related Literature ◽  
Socialist Feminism ◽  
Neoliberal Capitalism ◽  
Critical Theorist ◽  
Nancy Fraser

<em>This article is an overview of the intellectual and historical background of Nancy Fraser's thought. Intellectually, Fraser is a socialist feminist and critical theorist of the Frankfurt school who sought to reconnect gender analysis and the critique of capitalism. According to Fraser, the shift from state-managed-capitalism to neoliberal capitalism is the historical context that separates gender analysis and capitalism criticism in such a way that feminism is trapped as a handmaiden of neoliberalism. Based on an examination of Fraser's works and related literature, this article shows the problems of feminism in the neoliberal era and Fraser's critical theory offers to reclaim it.</em><br /><br /><strong>Key words:</strong> socialist feminism, critical theory, the Frankfurt School, gender, capitalism.

Criticism and Creativity

Dialogue ◽  
1964 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 377-397
Author(s):  
E. W. Mandel
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Critical Theorist

If any single controlling principle can be derived from what R. P. Blackmur has called the most sustained, eloquent, and original piece of literary criticism in existence, Henry James's Prefaces, it is that criticism is a creative act. This principle seems both sufficiently important and ambiguous to warrant a close examination of its meaning and consequences. In what follows, then, I propose to examine a theory of criticism as creativity, referring not only to James's remarks but also, and in particular, to an earlier and some ways more accessible version which we find in Robert Browning's work. Undoubtedly, in the great realm of speculation open to the critical theorist there are grander tasks which one could set oneself. Whether there are more difficult ones is another question. As it is, despite their peculiar particularity, both Browning and James are ambitious writers who refuse to be contained within narrow limits. Both demand an awareness of the context of critical theory, a sense of the problematical nature of criticism and the perplexities of the creative act. It is these latter considerations with which I propose to begin.

scholarly journals Why Is New Materialism Not the Answer? Approaching Hyper-Matter, Reinventing the Sense of Critique Beyond ‘Theory’

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 73-105
Author(s):  
Michał Krzykawski
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
21St Century ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Philosophical Critique ◽  
Final Cause ◽  
Critical Response

The article offers a new model of materialist philosophical critique (general technocritique or digital critique) as a critical response to new materialism(s). Drawing on the reinterpretation of the legacy of European philosophies and works by Bernard Stiegler, the article strives to elaborate authentically new theoretical account of matter, notably in relation to the techno-logical mode of its organisation. The critique of new materialism(s) is positioned within the unprecedented crisis of the theoretical model of knowledge. What it is possible to discover by the end of the second decade of the 21st century is that humanities scholars have not managed to confront the central issue for their viable future: the whole theoretical and methodological model, which has so far provided fuel for the contemporary humanities and shaped our social class, postcolonial, gender, queer and other sensibilities, is plunging into a deep epistemological crisis, for having lost its efficient and final cause. In a nutshell, the modelof “doing theory,” is no longer valid, inasmuch as “theory” strangely misrecognized the revolutionary developments in cybernetics, which occurred in the 1950s and radically changed the very nature of knowledge. Therefore, a new epistēmē has to be formed in this new digital condition. However, the formation of this new epistēmē requires for us to radically transform what is referred to as “theory” or “critical theory” and to take into account the developments in the sciences and technology (not necessarily in the methodological framework offered by what is defined as STS) in order to lay the foundations under a new critique of political economy in the hyper-material era.

Almost a Critical Theorist . . .

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don Ihde ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Shelf Life ◽  
Herbert Marcuse ◽  
Critical Theorist

This article starts with an autobiographical reflection in which I first trace how close I came to doing my Ph.D. studies with Herbert Marcuse when he was at Brandeis University; then follows my early post-Ph.D. work which continued to use critical theorists in teaching, later following a growing disillusionment with the implicit elitism of many critical theory authors. Then I turn to deeper philosophical reasons for my divergence from critical theory by introducing the notion of “shelf-life,” and argue that much Marxist and neo-Marxist work is today outdated, or has reached limits of its shelf-life.

scholarly journals Revisiting Adorno’s Position on the Relation of Theory to Praxis

2020 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-322
Author(s):  
Maroje Višić
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
The World ◽  
Critical Theorist ◽  
New Form ◽  
Context Dependent

Adorno’s departure from praxis and his focus on theory seemed to be an unnatural move for a critical theorist. Among students and colleagues this was perceived as a serious aberration from Horkheimer’s program. In this paper, two arguments in Adorno’s favor are proposed: firstly, that, rather than separating the theory– praxis couplet, Adorno undertook necessary revisions which made theory more accurate in relation to a world that had undergone profound social, political and economic changes. The “old” theory was anachronistic, subjectless and left completely to the benevolence of blind actionism which represented a new form of (pseudo–) praxis. The author will attempt to demonstrate that Adorno held a firm position on the unity of theory and praxis. The second argument has to do with contemporary praxis. Revisiting Adorno’s thoughts on theory and praxis can teach us two valuable lessons, namely: 1) that theory can reflect on itself, while praxis lacks this capability, and 2) that tactics applied in other societies cannot be imported blindly and unmediatedly because they are context–dependent. Both lessons are extremely valuable for contemporary social movements and especially for those inspired by Marcuse’s version of activist critical theory. Adorno reminds us that resistance can easily slip into repression and that, before it can be changed through praxis, the world must first be (re)interpreted.

scholarly journals Where is critical theory? Eurocentrism and marginalization in European and American Critical Theory

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Arnold Farr
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Herbert Marcuse ◽  
Ivory Tower ◽  
Black Feminist ◽  
The Real ◽  
Theory Of Education ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Comfort ◽  
Critical Theorist

In this paper I will examine the marginalization of certain forms of critical theory in US.  I will argue that the real Great Refusals have been refused by much of what calls itself critical theory.  What gets accepted as critical theory in the academy is often connected to the social position of those doing the theory.  That is, quite often critical theory is constructed by those who enjoy a certain degree of social comfort and have created a gap between themselves and the “wretched of the earth” who suffer daily.  Critical Theory becomes Ivory Tower theorizing.  Finally, I will argue that Herbert Marcuse was a critical theorist who tried to stay connected to those who suffer.  I will make some proposals based on Herbert Marcuse’s critical theory of education, the black feminist framework of intersectionality, and what I call democratic attunement.

Critical Theory and the Singular Instant of Luxury: On Contemporary Conceptions of Luxury Customer Experience

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Armitage
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Customer Experience ◽  
First Century ◽  
Central Concept ◽  
Intellectual Tradition ◽  
Thorstein Veblen ◽  
Philosophical Debate ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Dual Character ◽  
Critical Theorist

Critical theory is a central concept in the study of society, politics, history, and business as an innovative academic field and intellectual tradition. This chapter offers readers an encounter with critical theorist Theodor Adorno’s crucial writings on an important philosophical debate of the twenty-first century: the dual character of luxury. In exploring Adorno’s ideas concerning luxury and their possible impact on ‘the singular instant of luxury’, the chapter traces Adorno’s engagement with other key thinkers of luxury such as Thorstein Veblen. Investigating a significant business text on luxury by Wided Batat, the chapter presents an in-depth understanding of contemporary conceptions of luxury customer experience from the perspective of critical theory.

scholarly journals Theory caught up in dialectics: Some reflections on Asger Sørensen’s capitalism, alienation and critique

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-21
Author(s):  
Marjan Ivkovic ◽  
Srdjan Prodanovic ◽  
Milan Urosevic
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Empirical World ◽  
Methodological Perspective ◽  
Critical Theorist ◽  
The Relationship

This paper presents three interconnected examinations of Asger S?rensen?s arguments in Capitalism, Alienation and Critique, which thematize S?rensen?s overarching understanding of the relationship between theory and practice: his general methodological perspective on critical theory, its distinctive epistemology and its anchoring in the empirical world. The paper authors each try to push S?rensen on these crucial points by considering how S?rensen?s variant of critical theory actually operates, scrutinizing in more detail the particular relationship between the ?experience of injustice?, which for S?rensen constitutes the empirical foothold for critical theory, and the theoretical diagnosis of social reality which the critical theorist should formulate against the backdrop of this experience.

The Role of Experience in the Critical Theory of Technology

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-71
Author(s):  
Roy Bendor ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Critical Position ◽  
Design Production ◽  
Critical Theorist ◽  
Critical Theory Of Technology ◽  
Sophisticated Analysis ◽  
Important Shift ◽  
The Way

Andrew Feenberg’s critical theory of technology features a sophisticated analysis of the ways by which social forces influence processes of technological design, production and use. While Feenberg is foremostly read as a critical theorist, this essay argues that his call to democratize technology stands on distinct phenomenological grounds. This is based on the way he illustrates the role of experience in subtending potentials for the progressive transformation of the sociotechnical sphere. Against this background, this essay identifies an important shift in the way Feenberg articulates experience, from relating it to lifelong processes of learning and identity-construction (Bildung) to an emphasis on visceral immediacy (Erlebnis). This shift manifests a newfound focus on material, embodied meanings over-against linguistic ones, and results in a considerable tension between Feenberg’s appeal to experiential self-evidence and his critical position toward technology. The discussion of the two modes of experience exemplifies the current that underlies Feenberg’s work, namely the creation of traffic between ontological and ontic accounts of sociotechnical entities, practices and relations.

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