S. D. V. Stephens

notes / Critical Theory / week 1: Introduction

1 Introduction

Two meanings of “critical theory”

“Critical theory” is used in two ways, and it helps to separate them at the start. In the broad sense it names almost any theoretical tradition with a generally critical orientation: Nietzsche (NEE-cheh; /ˈniːtsʃə/), Foucault, and the many styles of theory that descend from them. In the narrow sense it names one particular school: the Frankfurt School, the circle around the Institute for Social Research, the Institut für Sozialforschung (in-stee-TOOT fewr zoh-TSYAHL-for-shoong; /ɪnstiˈtuːt fyːɐ̯ zoˈtsi̯aːlˌfɔʁʃʊŋ/). This course is about critical theory in the narrow sense.

The Institute was founded in 1923 as a center for the study of Marxism, and it was expanded in 1930 under its new director, Max Horkheimer (HORK-hy-mer; /ˈhɔʁkhaɪ̯mɐ/). What “critical theory” meant there was a multidisciplinary research program that brought philosophy, sociology, political science, economics and psychology (among other things) to bear on one another. It was grounded in a non-dogmatic Marxism and animated by an emancipatory spirit. Its strongest philosophical foundations are in German Idealism, Kant and above all Hegel (HAY-gel; /ˈheːɡl̩/), combined with Marx’s historical materialism and Freud’s psychoanalysis.

A century of growth

The tradition is now a century old, and it is usual to speak of it in generations:

  • the first generation: Horkheimer, Adorno, Marcuse (mar-KOO-zeh; /maʁˈkuːzə/), Pollock, Fromm, Löwenthal (LUR-ven-tahl; /ˈløːvn̩taːl/), Benjamin (BEN-yah-meen; /ˈbɛnjamiːn/) and others;
  • the second generation: above all Jürgen Habermas (HAH-ber-mahss; /ˈhaːbɐmaːs/);
  • the third generation: Axel Honneth (HON-et; /ˈhɔnət/), Nancy Fraser, Seyla Benhabib and others;
  • the most recent generation: Rahel Jaeggi (YEH-gee; /ˈjɛɡi/), Amy Allen, Rainer Forst and others.

The course moves through all four, with the greatest weight on the founding generation, through representative texts and the debates between them.

How to read these texts

The method is close reading and rational reconstruction: take an argument apart, see what it claims and why, and put it back together in its strongest form. With that comes a warning. Theory can mystify as easily as it demystifies. Difficult prose can be a way of seeing further, or a way of not being understood; we should keep asking which one we are reading.

Why critical theory began: the failure of revolution

Critical theory begins from a historical problem. On one side stands Soviet Marxism, with its communist-party vanguardism and its authoritarian tendencies. On the other stands the capitalist West, where the revolutions that Marxists expected after the First World War failed: the uprisings of 1918 and 1919 in Western Europe came to nothing.

Why did they fail, and why does bourgeois society persist? The answers that the Western Marxists gave all point in one direction:

  • revolutionary consciousness matters, and the workers did not have it;
  • bourgeois ideology is powerful, and it shapes how people see their own situation;
  • so to explain revolutionary inertia we have to turn from the economy alone to consciousness and culture.

That turn, toward consciousness and culture, is the move that defines critical theory.

The rebirth of Hegelian Marxism: Georg Lukács

The figure who makes the turn first is the Hungarian Marxist Georg Lukács (LOO-kahch; /ˈlukaːtʃ/) (1885–1971). He came to Marxism from literature and philosophy, and his life is controversial: it runs from great innovation to conformity. In 1919 he served in the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic; his book History and Class Consciousness (1923) was condemned as heretical by party orthodoxy, and he later repudiated it and lived for years within the Stalinist line.

Lukács was also no friend of the Frankfurt School. Late in life he mocked Adorno and his colleagues as residents of the “Grand Hotel Abyss,” an image he had first used for Schopenhauer’s (SHOH-pen-how-er; /ˈʃoːpn̩haʊ̯ɐ/) philosophy in The Destruction of Reason (1954): a luxury hotel, “equipped with every comfort, on the edge of an abyss, of nothingness, of absurdity,” where the daily view of the abyss only sharpens the guests’ enjoyment of their meals and their art. The charge is that critical theory despairs elegantly and does nothing. (The quotations are on the back of the handout.) We will have to decide whether the charge is fair.

Lukács’s History and Class Consciousness is where we start. It emphasizes Marx’s philosophical origins in Hegel, and the key importance of Hegel’s dialectic. It takes up the Marxist ideas of alienation and commodity fetishism. And it introduces the idea of reification, from the Latin res, “thing”; in German, Verdinglichung (fair-DING-likh-oong; /fɛɐ̯ˈdɪŋlɪçʊŋ/), “thing-ification.” Its opening essay, “What Is Orthodox Marxism?,” is the reading for the next lecture.

Handout outline (Professor Gordon)

I. General remarks on the course

  • A. Critical theory, its two meanings
    • critical theory in the narrow sense: the Frankfurt School, or Institut für Sozialforschung
    • critical theory in the broad sense: any manner of theoretical traditions that seem to have a generally critical orientation (Nietzsche, Foucault, etc.)
  • B. Critical theory in this course
    • the critical theory of the Frankfurt School, or Institute for Social Research
    • founded in 1923 as an institute for study of Marxism
    • expanded in 1930 under the directorship of Max Horkheimer
    • critical theory at the Institute: a multidisciplinary research program that combined philosophy, sociology, political science, economics, and psychology (inter alia), grounded in a non-dogmatic Marxism, and animated by an emancipatory spirit
    • strongest philosophical foundations from German Idealism (Kant, Hegel) in combination with historical materialism (Marx) and psychoanalysis (Freud)
  • C. Critical theory from 1923 to the present: a century of growth and diversification
    • first generation: Horkheimer, Adorno, Marcuse, Pollock, Fromm, Löwenthal, Benjamin, etc.
    • second generation: Jürgen Habermas, etc.
    • third generation: Axel Honneth, Nancy Fraser, Seyla Benhabib, etc.
    • most recent generation: Rahel Jaeggi, Amy Allen, Rainer Forst, etc.

II. The syllabus and readings

  • A. Structure
    • four generations of critical theory (with greater emphasis on the founding generation)
    • representative texts and debates
  • B. Methods
    • close reading and rational reconstruction of arguments
    • a brief warning: theory as mystification or demystification

III. Historical origins of critical theory

  • A. Soviet Marxism and the capitalist West
    • communist party vanguardism and authoritarian trends
    • the failures of revolution in Western Europe, 1918–1919
  • B. Explanations for revolutionary failure and the persistence of bourgeois society
    • the importance of revolutionary consciousness
    • the power of bourgeois ideology
    • explanations for revolutionary inertia: a turn to consciousness and culture

IV. Introductory remarks on the rebirth of Hegelian Marxism

  • A. The Hungarian Marxist, Georg Lukács, 1885–1971
    • literary and philosophical interests
    • a controversial biography: from innovation to conformity
    • hostile remarks on the Institute as a “Grand Hotel Abyss” [quotes on back]
  • B. History and Class Consciousness, 1923
    • an emphasis on Marx’s philosophical origins in Hegel
    • the key importance of Hegel’s dialectic
    • the Marxist ideas of alienation and commodity fetishism
    • Lukács on reification: from the Latin re, for thing, in German, Verdinglichung
    • Lukács’s opening essay, “What Is Orthodox Marxism?” (next lecture)