Reason after Its Eclipse
On Late Critical Theory
Martin Jay
- 272 pages
- English
- PDF
- Disponible sur iOS et Android
Reason after Its Eclipse
On Late Critical Theory
Martin Jay
Ă propos de ce livre
Martin Jay tackles a question as old as Plato and still pressing today: what is reason, and what roles does and should it have in human endeavor? Applying the tools of intellectual history, he examines the overlapping, but not fully compatible, meanings that have accrued to the term "reason" over two millennia, homing in on moments of crisis, critique, and defense of reason.After surveying Western ideas of reason from the ancient Greeks through Kant, Hegel, and Marx, Jay engages at length with the ways leading theorists of the Frankfurt SchoolâHorkheimer, Marcuse, Adorno, and most extensively Habermasâsought to salvage a viable concept of reason after its apparent eclipse. They despaired, in particular, over the decay in the modern world of reason into mere instrumental rationality. When reason becomes a technical tool of calculation separated from the values and norms central to daily life, then choices become grounded not in careful thought but in emotion and willâa mode of thinking embraced by fascist movements in the twentieth century.Is there a more robust idea of reason that can be defended as at once a philosophical concept, a ground of critique, and a norm for human emancipation? Jay explores at length the ommunicative rationality advocated by Habermas and considers the range of arguments, both pro and con, that have greeted his work.
Foire aux questions
Informations
Table des matiĂšres
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Part I. The Ages of Reason
- Part II. Reasonâs Eclipse and Return
- Notes
- Index