Bücher der Reihe Political Philosophy and Public Purpose

This book considers whether critical theory is up to the task of addressing our contemporary crises, including the question of ¿post-truth¿ discourse, psycho-social pathologies, the rise of right-wing populism, the Covid-19 pandemic, the anticolonial deficit in critical theory, and the neo-liberal management of the academy. The contributors offer a series of timely and complex reflections on the nature of critical theory, its role in contemporary society, and its various developments since the early twentieth century. In doing so, they analyse a variety of contemporary issues that, through critical reflection, can help us to navigate these problems. This volume seeks to highlight problems and possibilities within this field of thought, and endeavours to contribute towards reconsidering its capabilities and relevance.

This book proposes a new interpretation of Claude Lefort¿s thought focusing on his phenomenological method. Although all scholars recognize the influence of Merleau-Ponty, so far no one has demonstrated the fundamental coherence between Merleau-Ponty¿s theory and the main concepts proposed by Lefort; in particular between the concept of institution and the definitions of social and democracy. If Merleau-Ponty uses the idea of institution to think beyond the division between subject and object, to think together continuity and difference, permanence and change, this same concept allows Lefort to understand society as both conflict and unity. From this starting point, this study will attempt to clarify Lefort¿s concept of the political and his interpretations of modernity, humanism, and the work of Niccolò Machiavelli. These very concepts will show the difference from structuralism, Michel Foucault¿s contemporary theory and theories of immanence. At the same time this study highlightsan internal tension in Lefort¿s own thinking: between autonomy and experience, institution and insurgence.

This book demonstrates that Rousseau offers a distinctive critical voice which is worthy of listening to. Rousseau is shown to target not merely social ¿injustices¿, but the very dynamics central to the ¿form of life¿ itself. As such we are able to contemplate, and engage in, a more foundational form of social critique. We contend that by returning to Rousseau, both as a theorist in his own right, and as an interlocutor with the contemporary literature within radical political and social philosophy, we can see both the circumscribed nature of contemporary discussion, and the true importance of Rousseaüs thought. In summary, Rousseau remains a figure of vital importance across disciplines and it is high time for an edited volume which connects insights centring his thought and impact today.

This book brings together leading academics and activists to address the possibilities for qualitative social change beyond neoliberalism, providing introductory essays on alternative societies, transition, and resistance. Bringing together discussions on universal basic income, actually existing communism, parecon, circular economies, workers co-operatives, ¿fully automated luxury communism,' trade unionism, and party politics, the volume provides one of the first scholarly interventions to systematically evaluate possibilities for transition and resistance across theoretical, political, and disciplinary traditions.

The diagnosis of social pathologies has long been a central concern for social researchers working within, and on the peripheries of, Critical Theory.

The book examines the problems that plague contemporary American democracy. Written from the standpoint of democratic theory, and from a progressive point of view, the book explores different facets of American democratic culture and its various deficits - deficits that can lead to the crippling of democratic politics.

The critical theory of the Frankfurt School has undergone numerous and at times fundamental changes over the last ninety years. Since the late 1960s, it has been characterized primarily by Jürgen Habermas's "communicative turn" and a focus on normative foundations. Today, that "second generation" exists side-by-side with a "third generation" represented most prominently by Axel Honneth's turn toward recognition, ethical life, and the normative reconstruction of social institutions.This volume brings together critical voices on the state and direction of Frankfurt School theory today by examining Honneth's theory in light of both current challenges and the intellectual and political ambitions that have shaped the tradition from its beginning. United in their strong commitment to critical scholarship, the authors collected here approach Honneth's work from different backgrounds, employ a wide variety of methodologies, and write in different genres, ranging from the sober scholarly analysis to programmatic and political appeals. The collective aim of these reflections is not to reject Honneth's theory but to build upon his work and incorporate his themes of recognition and social freedom into a new project of critical theory that can prove adequate to the political and social crises of our time.

This book addresses core questions about the nature and structure of contemporary capitalism and the social dynamics and countervailing forces that shape modern life.

It argues that deliberative democracy's tense relationship with power is not a pathology but constitutive of deliberative practice.

This book offers a radical new interpretation of Georg Lukacs's History and Class Consciousness, showing for the first time how the philosophical framework for his analysis of society was laid in the drafts of a philosophy of art that he planned but never completed before he converted to Marxism.

The critical theory of the Frankfurt School has undergone numerous and at times fundamental changes over the last ninety years. Since the late 1960s, it has been characterized primarily by Jürgen Habermas's "communicative turn" and a focus on normative foundations. Today, that "second generation" exists side-by-side with a "third generation" represented most prominently by Axel Honneth's turn toward recognition, ethical life, and the normative reconstruction of social institutions.This volume brings together critical voices on the state and direction of Frankfurt School theory today by examining Honneth's theory in light of both current challenges and the intellectual and political ambitions that have shaped the tradition from its beginning. United in their strong commitment to critical scholarship, the authors collected here approach Honneth's work from different backgrounds, employ a wide variety of methodologies, and write in different genres, ranging from the sober scholarly analysis to programmatic and political appeals. The collective aim of these reflections is not to reject Honneth's theory but to build upon his work and incorporate his themes of recognition and social freedom into a new project of critical theory that can prove adequate to the political and social crises of our time.

This book explores the origins of the academic culture wars of the late 20th century and examines their lasting influence on the humanities and progressive politics.

This book develops a philosophy of aesthetic experience through two socially significant philosophical movements: early German Romanticism and early critical theory.

This book addresses core questions about the nature and structure of contemporary capitalism and the social dynamics and countervailing forces that shape modern life.

This book examines a basic problem in critical approaches to political and social inquiry: in what way is social inquiry animated by a practical intent? The practical intent in inquiry derives from the connection between social inquiry and the participant's perspective.

This book traces a dialectic relationship between "politics" and "antipolitics," the first, as used here, being akin to philosophy as an activity of open inquiry, plural democracy, and truth-finding, and the latter in the realm of ideology, technocracy, and presupposed certainties.

This edited collection testifies to the fact that the animal liberation movement is now entering its political phase, after a period dominated by ethical approaches that undermined the paradigm of human supremacy and demanded justice for nonhuman beings.

This book offers a radical new interpretation of Georg Lukacs's History and Class Consciousness, showing for the first time how the philosophical framework for his analysis of society was laid in the drafts of a philosophy of art that he planned but never completed before he converted to Marxism.

Part One: Overcoming GnosticismChapter 1 : I Hurt, Therefore I am: Descartes with Blumenberg (and Job), (Agata Bielik-Robston). Chapter 2: Legitimacy of Nihilism: Blumenberg''s Post-Gnosticism (Elad Lapidot)Chapter 3: Blumenberg, Latour and the Apocalypse (Willem Styfhals)Part Two: Political Theologies of Modernity Chapter 4: The Sovereign Position of the World: Towards a Political Theology of Modernity (after Blumenberg) (Joseph Albernaz, Kirill Cepurin)Chapter 5: Interrogating John Locke and the Propriety of Appropriation with Blumenberg and Voegelin (Lissa McCullough)Chapter 6: Political Legitimacy and Founding Myths (Zevnep Talay Turner)Part Three: Competing Visions of ModernityChapter 7: Trial and Crisis: Blumenberg and Husserl on the Genesis and Meaning of Modern Science (Robert Buch)Chapter 8: Infinite Progress and the Burdens of Biography (Charles Turner)Chapter 9: The Ideal of Optics and the Opacity of Life: Blumenberg on Modernity and Myth (Oriane Petteni)Part Four: Modernity and MethodChapter 10: World-Modelling and Cartesian Method: Blumenberg''s Hyperopia (Adi Efal-Lautenschlager)Chapter 11: Umbesetzung - Reoccupation in Blumenbergian Modernity (Sonja Feger)Chapter 12: Modernising Blumenberg (Daniel Whistler) 

It argues that deliberative democracy's tense relationship with power is not a pathology but constitutive of deliberative practice.

This book provides close readings of primary texts to analyze the linkage between G.W.F. Hegel's philosophy and Karl Marx's critical social theory of necessity and freedom. This is important for three reasons: first, to understand the significance of the changing relationships of work, society, and critical social theory in the origins of Hegelian-Marxism in the US, as documented in the recently published correspondence between the Marxist-Humanist theoretician Raya Dunayevskaya and the critical theorist Herbert Marcuse; second, to identify the intersections of the Critical Theorists Jurgen Habermas' and Marcuse's influential reinterpretations of Marx's "value theory" of economy and society that enables navigation of the changing relationships of the social and economic spheres in the last century, as developed in Marx's Grundrisse; and, thirdly, to assess the potential of Moishe Postone's renewal of Marx's value theory, largely conceived by the notion of a necessity and freedom dialectic intrinsic to capitalism.

This book explores the origins of the academic culture wars of the late 20th century and examines their lasting influence on the humanities and progressive politics.

The Marxian Legacy, first published in 1977 and released in a second edition in 1988, was and remains distinct in its view of Marxian theory as 'critique, ' aware of its own origins and limitations and self-conscious about its own historical rootedness in changing social and political conditions.

This book provides close readings of primary texts to analyze the linkage between G.W.F. Hegel¿s philosophy and Karl Marx¿s critical social theory of necessity and freedom. This is important for three reasons: first, to understand the significance of the changing relationships of work, society, and critical social theory in the origins of Hegelian-Marxism in the US, as documented in the recently published correspondence between the Marxist-Humanist theoretician Raya Dunayevskaya and the critical theorist Herbert Marcuse; second, to identify the intersections of the Critical Theorists Jurgen Habermas¿ and Marcuse¿s influential reinterpretations of Marx¿s ¿value theory¿ of economy and society that enables navigation of the changing relationships of the social and economic spheres in the last century, as developed in Marx¿s Grundrisse; and, thirdly, to assess the potential of Moishe Postone¿s renewal of Marx¿s value theory, largely conceived by the notion of a necessity and freedom dialectic intrinsic to capitalism.

This handbook is the only major survey of critical theory from philosophical, political, sociological, psychological and historical vantage points.