What Is Critical Theory? Its Ideas, Objectives And Main Authors

Critical theory is a broad field of studies that emerged in the first half of the 20th century and which quickly expands towards the analysis of different characteristics of contemporary societies, both at a philosophical, historical and political level.

Due to the context in which it emerges, and the proposals developed, critical theory significantly impacts the production of scientific knowledge and its potential in the social dynamics of domination and emancipation.

Below we will see in an introductory way what critical theory is, where it comes from and what are some of its main scope and objectives.

Critical theory and the political value of knowledge production

The term critical theory groups a set of studies from several generations of Western European philosophers and social theorists This is related to the latest members of the Frankfurt School, an intellectual movement with a Marxist, Freudian and Hegelian tradition founded in Germany in the late 1920s.

Two of the greatest exponents of the first generation of this school are Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno In fact, Horkheimer’s 1937 work called “Traditional Theory and Critical Theory” is recognized as one of the foundational works of these studies.

In the second half of the 20th century, philosophers such as Herbert Marcuse and Jürgen Habermas continued the work of critical theory in a second generation of the Frankfurt School, extending their interests to the analysis of different problems of contemporary society.

The latter emerges in a context where different social movements were already fighting for the same thing. In fact, although in the academic context the development of this theory is attributed to the Frankfurt School, in practical terms any social or theoretical movement that falls within the objectives described above could be considered a critical perspective, or a critical theory. Such is the case, for example, of feminist or decolonial theories and movements

In general terms, critical theory is distinguished by being a philosophical approach that is articulated with fields of study such as ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of history and social sciences. In fact, it is characterized precisely by being based on a reciprocal relationship between philosophy and the social sciences.

Background and relationship between philosophy and social sciences

The academic development of critical theory is related to three of the theoretical antecedents of critical theory: Marx, Freud and Hegel.

On the one hand, Hegel was recognized as the last thinker of the modern era capable of provide historical tools for the understanding of humanity.

For his part, Marx made an important criticism of capitalism, and at the same time, advocated overcoming purely theoretical philosophy to give it practical meaning

Sigmund Freud, when speaking of a “subject of the unconscious,” provided important criticism of the predominance of modern reason, as well as the idea of ​​the undivided subject (the individual) of the same era

So that, reason had been historicized and socialized, in an important link with ideology ; which ended up generating important philosophical criticism, but also a broad relativism and skepticism about normativity, ethics and different ways of life.

Part of what critical theory brings in this context is a less skeptical view of the same. Although society and the individual are the product of a historical and relative construction process; in this process also there is room to question the norms (and generate new ones).

Without these questions, and if everything is considered relative, a transformation of both history and social conditions could hardly occur. This is how the production of knowledge in social sciences is finally linked to the philosophical project of social criticism.

Breaks with traditional theory

The development of critical theory involves several breaks with traditional theory. In principle because the production of knowledge in critical theory has an important sociopolitical component: beyond describing or explaining phenomena, the intention is to value said phenomena, and from this, understand the conditions of domination and promote social transformation That is, the production of scientific knowledge has a political and moral meaning, and not a purely instrumental one.

In addition, distances itself from the scientific and objectivity project that had dominated the production of knowledge in the social sciences (which, in turn, came from the natural sciences). In fact, in its most classical perspective, critical theory has as its object human beings themselves understood as producers of their historical way of life. The object (of study) is at the same time a subject of knowledge and therefore agent in the reality in which he lives.

Classic criteria of critical theory

Horkheimer said that a critical theory must meet three main criteria: on the one hand, it must be explanatory (of social reality, especially in terms of power). On the other hand, it had to be practical, that is, recognizing the subjects as agents of their own context and identifying their potential to influence and transform said reality.

Finally, it had to be normative, insofar as it had to make clear how we can form a critical perspective and delimit achievable objectives At least in its first generation, and given its Marxist tradition, the latter was mainly focused on the analysis and transformation of capitalism towards a real democracy. As critical theory develops within different disciplines, the nuances and diversity of aspects it studies vary.

The interdisciplinarity

The above could not be achieved through a single discipline or body of studies, as was the case in much of traditional theory in the social sciences. On the contrary, interdisciplinarity should be promoted, so that it was possible to collect information on both the psychological, cultural, social and institutional elements involved in current living conditions. Only in this way would it be possible to understand traditionally divided processes (such as structure and agency) and give way to a critical perspective of the same conditions.