Of Critical Theory and Its Theorists

Stephen Eric Bronner

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781135326111
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Philosophie
• Subtopic: Politische Philosophie

Of Critical Theory and its Theorists is an intelligent, accessible overview of the entire Critical Theory Tradition, written by one of the leading experts on the subject. Filled with original insights and valuable historical narratives, Of Critical Theory and Its Theorists covers the work of major philosphical thinkers such as Benjamin, Horkheimer, Adorno, Marcuse and Habermas and revisits the contributions of lesser-known figures such as Karl Korsch and Ernst Bloch. Bronner measures the writing of these theorists against each other, postmodernist philosophers and the critical tradition reaching back to Hegel. Of Critical Theory and Its Thoerists presents new insights useful to experienced scholars and offers clear summaries for students making this book an ideal introduction to the debates surrounding one of the most important intellectual traditions of the 20th Century.

1

Introduction

From the First to the Second Edition

In the late 1960s, when I first became interested in critical theory, it was the preserve of a small group of intellectuals. Journals like Telos and New German Critique had just formed and most academics in America had never heard of critical theory or, with the exception of Herbert Marcuse, its leading figures. The legend that critical theory inspired the movement of the 1960s is, certainly in America, misleading; its major works were translated only in the 1970s. Now, however, things are very different. Jürgen Habermas is everywhere legitimately recognized as a giant of social theory, and there is hardly a literary critic who is unaware of Theodor Adorno or Walter Benjamin. Critical theory has invaded the most prestigious academic journals in disciplines ranging from anthropology and film to religion, linguistics, and political science. In fact, given the new stratum of philosophical professionals, it has arguably become a feature of the very society its proponents ostensibly challenged.

Of Critical Theory and Its Theorists had a measure of success following its appearance in 1994. The publication of this new edition has made it possible to correct minor mistakes, introduce certain stylistic changes, and somewhat revise the structure. Reconstructing the radical aims of the critical project and evaluating its inadequacies along with its legacy for the present, however, remain its purpose. The book was never meant to provide a detailed chronology. Excellent histories had already been written like The Dialectical Imagination by Martin Jay and, more recently, The Frankfurt School by Rolf Wiggershaus. Important general works had also appeared such as Introduction to Critical Theory by David Held and The Frankfurt School by Zoltan Tar, along with often magisterial biographies by scholars like Susan Buck-Morss on Walter Benjamin, Daniel Burston on Erich Fromm, Douglas Kellner on Herbert Marcuse, Arpad Kadarkay on Georg Lukács, and Gillian Rose on Theodor W. Adorno. Nevertheless, there is still no other work that speaks to both experts and a general audience about the relevance of the tradition via a critical analysis of its major figures and basic themes.

Of Critical Theory and Its Theorists was an attempt to meet that need. It employs the liberating imperatives of critical theory against the predominant forms in which critical theory is currently expressed. Space constraints prevent the consideration of every important thinker. Considering the contributions of the younger generation in Europe and the United States would surely have been worthwhile and it was not for want of interest that the contributions of Leo Lowenthal and Siegfried Kracauer to the sociology of culture or Otto Kirchheimer, Friedrich Pollock, and Franz Neumann to law and political economy have been omitted. Choosing what to include or exclude involved setting priorities. Questions of length led me to cut essays in the first edition dealing with the critique of ontology and the philosophy of rational choice, which were intended to show what critical theory is not, in favor of two new essays. These older pieces will find their way into other volumes and, even at the time of its publication, I felt that the first edition could have been tighter. Adding chapters on the impact of philosophical idealism and the encounter between critical theory and civil society, I think, not only provides some new insights, but gives this new edition a more cohesive character.

Critical theory is not a system nor is it reducible to any fixed set of proscriptions. Every major figure in the tradition, perhaps for this reason, employed the essay as a stylistic vehicle. The essay, with its inherently unfinished quality, is the logical form for generating antisystemic claims and fostering the exercise of reflexivity. Its use in this volume is consequently within the spirit of the original enterprise. The essay form allows the contributions of one thinker to be treated in one way and those of another in a very different fashion. The point is not to offer a neutral set of judgments. Each chapter provides a new and distinct interpretation of its subject matter. But themes carry over and new ones emerge. There is an open quality to this work, a space for the reader to develop connections, which—again—reflects the original spirit of critical theory. My hope from the beginning was that these essays, like the “constellation” envisioned by Benjamin and Adorno, would coalesce into a book that is more than the sum of its parts.

Of Critical Theory and Its Theorists sought to reinvigorate the interdisciplinary character of the original project, and its essays touch upon fields ranging from philosophy and aesthetics to politics and anthropology to theology and history. Any work on critical theory must recognize its fluid character, the fact that it is no longer identifiable with any “school” or tendency, and that its continued relevance depends upon the willingness to confront old assumptions from the standpoint of new conditions. The present volume presents critical theory as a cluster of themes inspired by the quest for freedom. Philosophical idealism inspired this quest, and given the lack of an explicit discussion about the early influences on critical theory in the first edition, I begin the second edition with “Sketching the Lineage: The Critical Method and the Idealist Tradition.”

Critical theory in the twentieth century, from the first, expressed an explicit interest in the abolition of social injustice. The aim of its partisans was to show how repressive interests were hidden by the supposedly neutral formulations of science no less than ontology, and, in this way, the movement always retained a commitment to the sociology of knowledge and the “critique of ideology” (Ideologiekritik). Its encounter with the existing order, however, retained a transcendent or utopian component. A commitment to the integrity of the individual, and freedom beyond existing parameters, became perhaps the motivating factor. The equilibrium holding between the immanent and transcendent elements of the project was always tenuous. The extent to which one or the other is given more or less weight is an interesting way to consider the development of critical theory and judge individual theorists in relation to one another. Nevertheless, the balance between these two concepts shifts within the different works of any given theorist, and neither is ever sacrificed entirely.

Critical theory preserves this most basic tension behind dialectical thinking. Its objective is to foster reflexivity, a capacity for fantasy, and a new basis for praxis in an increasingly alienated world. Critical theory, in this way, stands diametrically opposed to economic determinism and any stage theory of history. It originally sought to examine the various “mediations” between base and superstructure. It engaged in a revision of Marxian categories and an anachronistic theory of revolution in order to expose what inhibited revolutionary practice and its emancipatory outcome. Critical theory wished to push beyond the stultifying dogma and collectivism of what became known as “actually existing socialism.” The ideological and institutional framework of oppression was always thrust to the forefront and made the target of attack. In part, perhaps, this explains the concern with utopia by so many critical theorists and their willingness to experiment with new forms of experience and analysis.

Despite the cluster of themes defining critical theory, however, it retains a certain integrity and coherence. The undertaking emerged in a distinct historical epoch. World War I and the Russian Revolution provided the context in which new and radical departures in dialectical thinking took place. The identification between technology and progress, science and moral development, seemed to have collapsed in the trenches. Progress was exposed as an illusion, and liberalism lost its allure. The “betrayal” of proletarian internationalism by social democracy in 1914, the seizure of power by the communists, and a spate of proletarian uprisings throughout Europe in the aftermath of the war provided the impulse for a critique of orthodoxy and the standard “materialist” interpretation of Marx. The revolution was not supposed to break out in an economically underdeveloped state like Russia, and, in fact, Antonio Gramsci initially termed the communist revolution a “revolution against Das Kapital.” The original preoccupation of historical materialism with the objective development of productive forces surrendered to a new emphasis upon “consciousness” and the vision of a radical transformation of society. A new concern with the connection between revolutionary theory and practice made itself felt. Thus, the relation between Marxism and philosophy became a matter of importance.

Critical theory is usually associated with various members of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research like Max Horkheimer who became its director in 1930; Leo Lowenthal who joined in 1926; Theodor W. Adorno who began to participate in 1928 but only became an official member ten years later; Erich Fromm who started his nine-year collaboration in 1930; Herbert Marcuse who joined in 1933; and Walter Benjamin who never officially became a member at all. But, in fact, it was spawned by a set of unorthodox thinkers more or less associated with the left wing of the communist movement representing what Maurice Merleau-Ponty would call “Western Marxism.” This tendency stood opposed to mechanistic materialism, economic determinism, and all ahistorical forms of interpretation. Its innovative use of the dialectical method and its recognition of the contribution made by philosophical idealism for Marxism, its concern with consciousness and the impact of alienation, turned its thinkers into far more than merely the precursors of the “Frankfurt School.” Of Critical Theory and Its Theorists, for this reason, opens with chapters treating the contributions of Karl Korsch, Georg Lukács, and Ernst Bloch.

Their philosophical work reflected the radical hopes generated during the “heroic period” of the Russian Revolution that stretched from 1918 until 1923. Bloch's Spirit of Utopia was published in 1918, and both Korsch's Marxism and Philosophy and Lukács's History and Class Consciousness appeared in 1923. This was the year in which the possibility of an international communist revolution was finally laid to rest. It was also the year in which the Institute for Social Research was founded in Frankfurt am Main. The initial research program was developed under the stewardship of Carl Grünberg. It centered around the labor movement, the capitalist economy, and the new experiments with planning in the Soviet Union. Korsch exerted an important influence during this time, and among the important scholars of the institute were Fritz Sternberg, Henryk Grossmann, and Friedrich Pollock. Many members were aligned with the communist movement, and its perspective on the state and monopoly capitalism carried over into certain important writings of the 1930s. A fundamental shift in direction took place, however, when Max Horkheimer became director in 1930. He coined the term critical theory, and he used the Journal for Social Research, which would serve as the public forum for the institute, to set a new agenda with an emphasis on issues ranging from psychology and aesthetics to philosophy and the critique of technology. The chapter “Horkheimer's Road” is an attempt to explore the contributions and limits of his thought, and certain assumptions behind the intellectual enterprise of what would come to be known as the Frankfurt School.

Critical theory became juxtaposed against all “traditional”—metaphysical and materialist—forms of theory. It was directed against all attempts to construct a fixed system and every attempt to identify the subject with the object, whether conceived in terms of social institutions or the “covering” categories of philosophy. This attempt gave the institute a unique position in the intellectual world of the 1930s. It was a decade in which all hope for the future seemed lost and Walter Benjamin, who would become one of the most prominent thinkers of the century, sought to save it by recapturing “the glow of the profane.” He evidenced an extraordinary commitment to freedom, individuality, and philosophical experimentation during the time in which totalitarianism was on the rise. His attempt to construct a negative philosophy of history, substitute a less rigorous constellation for the classical Hegelian concept of totality, and emphasize the particular would ultimately lay the basis for transforming the entire critical project. Nevertheless, while most interpretations stress or even glorify the fragmented quality of his thinking and insights, the essay in this book interprets those very qualities making for his current success as compensations for his failure to fuse the messianic with the materialist elements of his thought in terms of a coherent theory.

Walter Benjamin like virtually every other major figure in the critical tradition was an enthusiastic supporter of modernism. He viewed surrealism, with its emphasis on the transformation of everyday experience, as an essential component of the revolution. With the communist support of the Popular Front and the “progressive” legacy of the bourgeoisie in 1936, however, expressionism and modernism came under sharp attack in favor of “realism.” Lukács, who had openly retreated from his youthful avant-gardism in order to propound a standpoint in conformity with the new communist line, set the stage for a debate in which Bloch and Bertolt Brecht offered the most important responses.“Political Aesthetics in the 1930s” provides the background for the “expressionism debate,” a quick summary of the arguments made by its principal protagonists, and a preliminary attempt to develop a new critical aesthetic with new categories capable of evaluating the diverse artistic contributions of diverse styles in the face of a new mass media.

For most of the left-wing intelligentsia of Europe, however, exile was the real theme of the 1930s and 1940s. The Institute of Social Research and most of its members, seeking to escape Hitler, ultimately relocated in the United States. There, in collaboration with Theodor Adorno, Horkheimer wrote Dialectic of Enlightenment. This marked a sea change in the direction of critical theory. No longer was the proletariat seen as the subject of history, no longer were teleological notions of progress considered sacrosanct, no longer was the liberal Enlightenment legacy taken for granted, no longer was it merely a matter of redirecting technology toward new ends. The new critical theory of society forwarded a more directly anthropological form of inquiry. The possibility of revolutionary transformation was seen as fading in the face of an apparently seamless bureaucratic order buttressed by the “culture industry”and intent on eliminating subjectivity and the reflexive sources of opposition to the status quo. In response, while retaining the dialectical framework of Hegel and Marx, Adorno began integrating the insights of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche in their battle against the collectivist strains within advanced industrial society. The result would prove works of remarkable range and quality including what is arguably the most important work on aesthetics of the twentieth century. It is with the inventor of “negative dialectics,” however, that the relation between theory and practice would most nearly verge on disintegration and the connection between immanence and transcendence appear the most tenuous. “Dialectics at a Standstill” analyzes Adorno's rescue of utopia through an “inversion” of reality and his redefinition of critical theory as an antisystemic metaphysic lacking any criteria with which to justify its claims or articulate its purposive aims.

Concerns of this sort are often reflected in the attacks on the difficult style employed by critical theorists. The heritage of dialectical philosophy surely had an impact, and the complex use of complex concepts often justifiably demanded a complex style. Especially in the ideologically charged postwar context, however, it was also a question of employing an “aesopian” form of writing; indeed, often from fear or self-serving purposes, Adorno and others wished to disguise their Marxism and used the highly abstract Hegelian language for that reason. But there is also a more theoretical justification for their abstruse style. Even while concern was expressed with fostering Enlightenment attitudes in works like The Authoritarian Personality, which was directed by Adorno, the famous analysis of the culture industry developed in Dialectic of Enlightenment had argued that popularity would necessarily “neutralize” whatever radical message a work retained. Only Erich Fromm was really willing to engage this new orthodoxy in practical terms.

Fromm was surely the most lucid stylist to emerge from the institute, and few intellectuals of his time had a larger audience. His concern was with social psychology and its relation to political and clinical practice; indeed, this would continue to serve as a point of reference even in his later attempts to link Freud with Marx. For this reason, when Adorno first insisted on developing the critique of anthropology from the standpoint of Freud's instinct theory, he clashed with Fromm. The dazzling newcomer won the battle. Fromm divorced himself from the institute and proceeded to write a number of best-sellers, including Escape from Freedom. Quickly enough, however, he was condemned for the “superficial” quality of his writings. And that judgment has gained the status of a myth. “Fromm in America” attempts to undermine it as the essay explores his significance for postwar intellectual and political life in the United States.

Critical theory reached its zenith in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Its emphasis upon alienation, the domination of nature, the regressive components of progress, the mutability of human nature, and the stultifying effects of the culture industry and advanced industrial society made the enterprise relevant for young intellectuals. Radicalism in theory, however, betrayed what was ever more surely becoming a conservatism in practice. New stalwarts of the establishment like Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, for example, were essentially appalled by the movement their own writings had helped inspire....

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction: From the First to the Second Edition
• 2. Sketching the Lineage: The Critical Method and the Idealist Tradition
• 3. Karl Korsch: Western Marxism and the Origins of Critical Theory
• 4. Philosophical Anticipations: A Commentary on the “Reification” Essay of Georg Lukács
• 5. Utopian Projections: In Honor of Ernst Bloch
• 6. Horkheimer's Road
• 7. Rescuing the Fragments: On the Messianic Materialism of Walter Benjamin
• 8. Political Aesthetics in the 1930s
• 9. Dialectics at a Standstill: A Methodological Inquiry into the Philosophy of Theodor W. Adorno
• 10. Fromm in America
• 11. Utopia, Aesthetics, Revolution: Herbert Marcuse and the Radical Imagination
• 12. Jürgen Habermas and the Language of Politics
• 13. Critical Theory and Civil Society: Political Interests, Private Passions, and the Public Sphere
• 14. Points of Departure: Sketches for a Critical Theory with Public Aims
• Notes
• Index