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History and Evolution: On the Changing Relation of Theory to Practice in the Work of Jürgen Habermas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2023

Thomas McCarthy
Thomas McCarthy*
Affiliation:
Boston University
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Extract

The relation of theory to practice has been a persistent concern of Marxist thought, so much so, in fact, that this type of acute self-consciousness might be regarded as one of its constitutive features. Thus in his introduction to the 1971 edition of Theory and Practice, Jürgen Habermas offers the following characterization of critical theory:

The theory specifies the conditions under which a self-reflection of the species has become objectively possible. At the same time it names those to whom the theory is addressed, who can with its help gain enlightenment about themselves and their emancipatory role in the process of history. With this reflection on the context of its origin and this anticipation of the context of its application, the theory understands itself as a necessary catalytic moment of the very complex of social life that it analyses; and it analyzes this complex as an integral network of coercion, from the viewpoint of its possible transformation.

Type
Part X. Habermas
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1978 , Issue 2: Volume Two: Symposia and Invited Papers 1978 , 1978 , pp. 397 - 423
Copyright
Copyright © 1981 Philosophy of Science Association

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References

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