I am interested in the axiological perspective of critical theory. Here I am thinking about the values embedded in critical thought such as social justice, emancipation, and challenging the status quo. To this end, I wonder if anyone could recommend any scholars who have emphasised the avlue systems of critical theory specifically?

I don’t have an academic background. I’m only trying to work through this subreddit’s reading list chronologically.

I read the Groundwork and was initially confused but reread it a lot and ended up really, really liking it. I decided I for sure want to read more Kant.

The Critique of Pure Reason is very obscure to me though.

Regardless I’m very patient and willing to read basically absolutely anything in preparation to make this work clearer. I’m not in a rush, I’m more interested in a full understanding than anything. What I’m asking here is what all do you recommend I read, or watch (like lectures) to help me fully understand this book? Thanks.

This doesn’t even take a lot of argument to prove. Critical Theory is concerned with (rationally!) questioning power structures and positions of authority. This procedure isn’t possible without standards of rationality that are embedded into the framework of Critical Theory. (Dialectic stands central to its process, and dialectic is a hyper form of rationality. It is not a regression, evasion or dismissal of rationality, but an enhanced procedure of rationality.)

But Critical Theory (in a popular sense) is in a state of crisis today, because it has abandoned its rational foundations in favor of identity politics, propagated through emotive procedures. This leaves Critical Theory in a state of self-negated crisis. It has undermined its own complaints, and invalidated its own methods of procedure.

If Critical Theory is exempt from rational criticism, has cast off rational discourse, then it can no longer be a species of criticism, it has forfeited its power and declared itself irrelevant. What remains then is not a “critical theory,” but an “emotional theory” that believes itself to be superior to every other theory. But how does it achieve the conclusion of this supremacy if it has cast off rationality? The answer is by presupposing rationality (only at the points of its own special pleading). Such a theory is worse than lost, it’s an unconscious hypocrisy. Without reason there can be no negation, no critique. Critical Theory is (inescapably) a rational procedure.

https://open.substack.com/pub/atmidnightalltheagents/p/utopia-as-a-predicament?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=23h2fr Would love to hear feedback/thoughts on it, check it out if you want to!

We were discussing Adorno's text "Culture and administration" in an online class and a fellow student said that Adorno's main point is that the standardization of culture leads to alienation, which I agreed with. But someone replied along the lines of this:

"I agree with Adorno's concerns, but I think he's missing a lot of nuance. I doubt that culture (high culture), even before its commodification, was diverse, defiant and critical. Since art became art, it's belonged to the bourgeoisie. Maybe it was critical of the overlords of economic capital, but definitely not with the entire system, not with the general status quo of social domination. Only with the status quo specific to cultural production has high culture ever been critical."

Then he elaborated on what was basically Bourdieu's social distinction theory and how each field has its own internal logic but always in the terms of the social work of domination. He said high culture rebels against administration because it interferes with its internal logic but it's never against hierarchy and domination, so it's a gross simplification that Adorno says that culture loses its ability to be critical because of the capitalistic administration of culture. It was never critical to begin with. He said: "In what way does high culture question the status quo, if it's precisely a product of status quo, of the need to differentiate itself from popular culture as a mechanism of domination? Perhaps intellectual curiosity is a tool of social distinction".

When asked about the role of popular culture in all of this (because Adorno talks about the commodification of culture in general), he said that it does have potential to be revolutionary because it stems from the working class. He said it's not exempt from commodification and that it's not always critical of the status quo by any means, but that because popular culture has always been denied the status of "culture" until its homogenization, that it's the only place where Adorno's theory about alienation caused by the culture industry makes sense.

Now, I'm very unfamiliar with Adorno's broader theory, much less its critiques. To be honest, this is the first text of his that I've read. So a part of me believes that this makes a lot of sense, but another part of me feels like this is a misunderstanding of his work. But because I'm not very familiar with it, I don't feel confident calling him out on it. What do you guys think? Is this something that's been said before?

I had come across this years ago, and while Land is not in my repertoire I did really click with this sentiment and would like to include it in a project of mine. I remember hearing/reading but cannot for the life of me find it again.

It goes along the lines of, with classic Landian anti-capitalist bravado, critiquing a phd student for wanting to rush to finish their PhD because their scholarship is to run out soon anti how this is submitting to a capitalist framework for something that ought really not to be.

That's a poor explanation, but I'm hoping some of you who are very familiar might know where this lives.

I was reading a paper by Blum (2002) who claims that “overuse of ‘racism’ diminishes the moral force of the word”. Some scholars have argued that racism is evident in the premodern era, but I find Blum’s (2002) argument convincing, which is that if the social system enslaving and subjugating is doing so on the grounds of religion or conquest then this is not racism. What do you guys think?

Anyone seen this? Looks like /acc is hitting the TV…

https://supercollider.global/our-work/accelerate-or-die/

https://xenogothic.com/2023/07/12/jake-chapmans-accelerate-and-die-the-new-acc-primer/amp/

A common refrain in education is that classes are getting too easy and dumbed down due to grade inflation. What’s left unsaid in that perspective is that education is valued on how “hard/difficult” it is, which leads some to denigrate humanities in favor of STEM fields (and some extend the idea further to blame campus activism on humanities majors). Are there any books that critique academic hardness as an end unto itself?

hii, i’m writing on why the blm movement had more power in staying as a social movement than the occupy wall street movement. wanted some texts (light/heavy) on social movement theory to explain this phenomenon! thank u :)

I’ll write in the simplest format about what I feel. Recently I started thinking about how appearance and beauty plays a huge role in work environment (Promotions, acceptance from supervisors etc).

Major situations which will improve the quality of life such as finding a life partner, finding a good social network, friends, mentors has some kind of a connection with beauty and appearance. Funnily even when using public transportation strangers are not hesitant to help a good looking person and even the public officers treats good looking dressed well sort of people with respect than the others.

As someone works on fashion and as a woman of color I see this happens everyday and some disagrees with me often when I talk about this to my friends. This makes me curious and I want to know more and deep dive into this. Is there any papers or books about how beauty is correlated with the quality of life? Or else something similar?

What do you guys think of, from your reading in CT, etc? Masaryk himself noted that suicide was a phenomenon of modernity. So, I was wondering how do you guys view the massive psychological suffering in relation to industrialization, mass media, "late stage" capitalism and so on. Or in countries like South Korea, which is pretty much near-famous for its suicide rates, and rising infertility rates; in fact, this seems -- at least on first glance -- to have grown and increased in tadem with Korea's modernization, massive economic growth, etc.

Also, I also found the "infertility" rates -- notable in S.K., Japan, even a lot of european countries where I lived or live -- and the rise of antinatalism interesting. I'm not trying to say antinatalism, etc, is wrong or unreasonable; I only find it interesting how a growing number of people seemed disillusioned with late capitalism society, and would rather spare others the cycles of school, work, death, etc.

Thanks to everyone who provided thoughts regarding the moratorium on Israel/Palestine discussions. As a result of community feedback, we will be ending the previous moratorium.

In order to promote substantive discussion and to help limit brigading in controversial threads, we will be asking that:

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Thank you again, and further feedback will be welcome.

I’m participating in a banned book reading at the community college where I teach. We’re going to have 5 minutes to read and I’d love to hear suggestions on passages you think might be impactful.

I am looking for literary works by transgender authors having themes of Deep Ecology and Social Ecology

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Hi Im looking for writing that looks at the concept of the male gaze as it relates to how straight men seek validation from their peers. Specifically the phenomenon of men intentionally making themselves look bad or ridiculous as a means to gain male approval at the expense of their own dignity ex: bowl cuts, white claw branded tuxedos, Fortnite face tattoos. Wondering if anyone has done any writing on this topic and if so would love some recs!

I am reading a lot of memoirs of and by transgender people. Are there theories in literature that I can read so that I have a better critical understanding of the text(s) I am reading?

I'm looking for what the title says.

I recently listened to a lecture series given on Wilfrid Sellars by Robert Brandom. During the discussion on Sellars' essay "Philosophy And The Scientific Image Of Man", Brandom suggested that there might be an interesting connection between the way Sellars uses the phrase "Manifest Image" to describe our everyday conception of ourselves in the world and Freud's use of the phrase in his dream work. I think it'd be fun to explore that connection, so I'm looking for things to read.

Obviously, Sellars' essay and The Interpretation Of Dreams are of primary importance, and perhaps On Dreams as well. I'm sure, however, that there is more worthwhile reading material here. Is anyone aware of the intellectual precursors to Freud's invention of Manifest Content? And does anyone have good secondary sources or interesting developments of the concept through the 1960s?

I am particularly interested with supplementary literatures on Marcuse and Freud's varying notions about the possobility/impossibility of non-repressive civilization/society.

Hi,

I’m interested in finding texts which explore the ways datafication affects knowledge-production and whether this could be considered under a neoliberal paradigm, i.e, quantification as a means to commodify everything it touches. I‘ve read some Wendy Brows, and some works in datafication studies, but haven’t found many which specifically consider how such knowledge-production might be ideological.

Thanks