1. The term coined by Horkheimer, Max 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 Haraway, Donna, 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 âmind-independentâ 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 glocalization. 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 âcriticalâ should thus be understood to mean, as it does in Kant, Immanuelâs work, the opposite of âanalyticalâ: 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 Marx, Karl, but also inspired by Durkheim, Ămile and Max Weber, is that midway through the nineteenth 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 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 âthe wholeâ; 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 isnât 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). 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).
http://www.uta.edu/huma/illuminations/ âą 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.