School
Critical theory
Critical theory is the social philosophy of the Frankfurt School, which studies how society and culture sustain domination and how to change them.
It grew from the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, founded in 1923, and was shaped by Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno and Herbert Marcuse, with Walter Benjamin close to the circle; they drew on Marx, Hegel and Freud. Jürgen Habermas led a later generation, turning to communication and democracy. The term is also used more broadly for any theory that aims at social critique and emancipation. On this site it answers questions on art and mass culture, distributive justice (6.4.1), social ontology, the philosophy of social science and political philosophy.
Thinkers of this school
- Herbert Marcuse1898 – 1979
- Jürgen Habermas1929 – 2026
- Max Horkheimer1895 – 1973
- Theodor W. Adorno1903 – 1969
- Walter Benjamin1892 – 1940
Guide: Schools of Philosophy: The Main -isms and the Questions They Answer
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Is Wiredu’s consensus democracy what Habermas’s discourse principle looks like in a council?
This term I have been reading Wiredu's essays on consensus alongside Habermas with a few older students, and they keep asking a question I want to put to a wider group. Wiredu argued that traditional Ashanti politics, at least at the level…
Started by Kwame Asante5 replies -
Is Iris Marion Young right that most injustice is not about who gets what?
Whenever my reading group discusses Young's Justice and the Politics of Difference (1990), the same split appears. Young argued that political philosophy had been captured by the "distributive paradigm": it treats justice as the fair division of a stock of goods, income,…
Started by Femke Bosman6 replies -
What did Horkheimer mean by ‘traditional’ versus ‘critical’ theory?
I operate a gantry crane at the container port in Marseille and I'm a union delegate. Someone at a union education weekend said the Frankfurt School started with an essay by Max Horkheimer called "Traditional and Critical Theory", from 1937, and that…
Started by Hugo Marchetti4 replies -
What did Weber actually mean by “value-free” social science?
In arguments about whether journalism or research can be neutral, Max Weber gets quoted by both sides. One side says Weber proved social science must be value-free. The other says Weber admitted that values decide what we study, so neutrality is a…
Started by Sana Rizvi3 replies