Introduction to Critical Theory

Horkheimer to Habermas

David Held

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9780520041752
• eBook ISBN: 9780520341272
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Political Philosophy

The writings of the critical theorists caught the imagination of students and intellectuals in the 1960s and 1970s. They became a key element in the formation and self-understanding of the New Left, and have been the subject of continuing controversy. Partly because of their rise to prominence during the political turmoil of the sixties, and partly because they draw on traditions rarely studied in the Anglo-American world, the works of these authors are often misunderstood. In this book David Held provides a much-needed introduction to, and evaluation of, critical theory. He is concerned mainly with the thought of the Frankfurt school—Horkheimer, Adorno, Marcuse, in particular—and with Habermas, one of Europe's leading contemporary thinkers. Several of the major themes considered are critical theory's relation to Marx's critique of the political economy, Freudian psychoanalysis, aesthetics, and the philosophy of history. There is also a discussion of critical theory's substantive contribution to the analysis of capitalism, culture, the family, and the individual, as well as its contribution to epistemology and methodology. Held's book will be necessary reading for all concerned with understanding and evaluating one of the most influential intellectual movements of our time.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Note about translation
• Introduction
• Part One. The Frankfurt School
• 1. The formation of the Institute of Social Research
• 2. Class, class conflict and the development of capitalism: critical theory and political economy
• 3. The culture industry: critical theory and aesthetics
• 4. The changing structure of the family and the individual: critical theory and psychoanalysis
• 5. The critique of instrumental reason: critical theory and philosophy of history
• 6. Horkheimer's formulation of critical theory: epistemology and method 1
• 7. Adorno's conception of negative dialectics: epistemology and method 2
• 8. Marcuse's notions of theory and practice: epistemology and method 3
• Part Two. Critical Theory: Habermas
• 9. Introduction to Habermas
• 10. Discourse, science and society
• 11. Interests, knowledge and action
• 12. The reformulation of the foundations of critical theory
• Part Three. The Importance and Limitations of Critical Theory
• 13. An assessment of the Frankfurt school and Habermas
• 14. The concept of critical theory
• Appendix: The Odyssey
• Notes and references
• Select bibliography
• Index