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Critical Theory

Critical Theory

Peter Uwe Hohendahl | Jaimey Fisher

(2001)

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Abstract

The retirement of the distinguished philosopher Jürgen Habermas from his chair at the University of Frankfurt signalled an important caesura in the history of Critical Theory: the transition from the Habermasian project, to different forms of inquiry in the work of the next generation. This change-over happens at a time when it has become clear that Habermas's systematic exploration of communicative rationality has reached the point where both its achievements and its limitations had become evident. The essays collected in this volume address the problems connected with this transition, partly by returning to the insights of the first generation (Adorno and Benjamin), partly by focusing on questions raised by Habermas's work. Whatever the difference in the authors' positions, this collection gains its unity through their common interest in the significance and value of Critical Theory today and in its future as a philosophical project.


Jaimey Fisher is an Assistant Professor of German at Tulane University.


Peter Uwe Hohendahl is Schurman Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Cornell University and Director of the Institute for German Cultural Studies.

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Critical Theory 1
CONTENTS 5
PREFACE 8
Section I. INTRODUCTION 11
Chapter 1. FROM THE ECLIPSE OF REASON TO COMMUNICATIVE RATIONALITY AND BEYOND 13
Section II. ADORNO AND BENJAMIN 39
Chapter 2. IS EXPERIENCE STILL IN CRISIS? 41
Chapter 3. MEGA MELANCHOLIA 59
Chapter 4. STUMBLING INTO MODERNITY 79
Chapter 5. AESTHETIC POLITICS TODAY 104
Section III. IN THE WAKE OFJÜRGEN HABERMAS 127
Chapter 6. CRITIQUE AND SELF-REFLECTION 129
Chapter 7. DIALOGICAL RATIONALITY AND THE CRITIQUE OF ABSOLUTE AUTONOMY 149
Chapter 8. CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE INFORMATION AGE 164
Chapter 9. BETWEEN RIGHTS AND HOSPITALITY 185
Chapter 10. A QUESTION OF GROUNDING 215
Section IV. A CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGE TO CRITICAL THEORY 237
Chapter 11. CRITICAL THEORY AND SYSTEMS THEORY 239
Chapter 12. OBSERVATIONS ON OBSERVATIONS 258
Section V. EPILOGUE 271
Chapter 13. NORMATIVITY AND ITS LIMITS 273
BIBLIOGRAPHY 297
INDEX 311