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This volume examines the intellectual contribution made by Frankfurt School Critical Theory to our understanding of modern life. Thematically organized and offering a strong mix of historical and contemporary material, it considers the work of both the first and second generation

Reviews Craig Calhoun's project to revitalize critical sociological theory over a series of books, drawing particularly on his seminal Critical Social Theory (1995). According to Calhoun, the traditional critical theory of the Frankfurt school suffers from a nationalistic & regional orientation & a severe theory-experience disconnect. The original critical theorists also held to a great illusion in the capacity for a proletariat to assume a world-historic mission. Among these problems, the gap between theory & experience is considered most critical by Calhoun, because it has led critical theorists to miss what is happening existentially in modern society. However, Calhoun maintains that critical theory is a central intellectual project because of its fundamental belief that the world contains more possibilities than is realized. It is this sentiment that Calhoun seeks to embed with a contemporary critical theory sufficient to the task of making better worlds. 10 References. D. Ryfe

Part of a review symposium (see related abstracts in SA 44:4) on a book by David Couzens Hoy & Thomas McCarthy, Critical Theory (1994 [see listings in IRPS No. 86]), rebutting criticisms by Richard Rorty & Seyla Benhabib. It is maintained that Rorty fails to see the complexity & ambiguity inherent in critical theory, which emerged at a certain time in response to certain needs, & must constantly be revised as those needs change. Benhabib focuses her criticism on three central topics: the validity, agreement, & solidarity of critical theory. In response to the first, it is asserted that Jurgen Habermas's argument on this point was not complete. Regarding the second, it is maintained that agreement is the goal of all language, & is desirable regardless of the medium by which it is reached. In response to the third, it is argued that differences between interpretations can be recognized without being assimilated. 5 References. M. Wagner

Intro -- Ricoeur's Critical Theory -- CONTENTS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- REFERENCE KEY TO FREQUENTLY CITED TEXTS OF PAUL RICOEUR -- INTRODUCTION -- 1. HERMENEUTICS -- PHENOMENOLOGY AND HERMENEUTICS -- DISCOURSE AND DISTANCIATION -- HERMENEUTICS AND IDEOLOGY CRITIQUE -- 2. NARRATIVE -- METAPHOR AND NARRATIVE -- NARRATIVE AND HISTORY -- INTERPRETATION AND ARGUMENTATION -- 3. SELFHOOD -- FREEDOM AND NATURE -- SPEAKING AND ACTING -- NARRATIVE IDENTITY AND SELFHOOD -- 4. PRACTICAL WISDOM -- ETHICAL AIM AND MORAL NORM -- MORAL NORM AND PRACTICAL WISDOM -- PRACTICAL WISDOM AND DISCOURSE ETHICS -- 5. POLITICS -- ETHICS AND POLITICS -- CRITIQUE AND CONVICTION -- POLITICS AND THE LAW -- 6. CRITICAL THEORY -- IDENTITY AND RECOGNITION -- TECHNOLOGY AND POLITICS -- GLOBALIZATION AND DEMOCRACY -- NOTES -- INTRODUCTION -- 1. HERMENEUTICS -- 2. NARRATIVE -- 3. SELFHOOD -- 4. PRACTICAL WISDOM -- 5. POLITICS -- 6. CRITICAL THEORY -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y.

AbstractTheorists working within the Frankfurt School tradition of critical theory have not been immune to calls to "decolonize" that have been circulating in and beyond the academic world. This article asks what it means to seek to decolonize a tradition of thought that has never explicitly acknowledged colonial histories. What is needed, instead, this article suggests, is consideration of the very implications of the "colonial modern"—that is, an acknowledgement of the colonial constitution of modernity—for Frankfurt School critical theory's idea of historical progress. The issue is more extensive than simply acknowledging the substantive neglect of colonialism within the tradition; rather, this article suggests that its categories of critique and their associated normative claims are also necessarily implicated by this neglect and require transformation. Acknowledgment of colonial histories requires material reparations for the substantive inequalities bequeathed as legacies of the past, but these reparations also require a transformation of understandings and a recognition of "epistemological justice."