University of the Philippines Baguio College of Social Sciences Department of History and Philosophy

Report Paper in Philosophy I

CRITICAL THEORY

Presented by: Group I Alvaro, Viva Angeles, Sherrydel Ascao, Joy Del Mendo, Edmar Guison, Anna Dominique Ison, Aurea Marie Leander, Mark Anthony Ravillas, Richel San Pedro, Jose Maria Ceasar Sta. Cruz, Monalie Timbang, Michael

Submitted to: Prof. Leticia Tolentino

18 March 2008 Date Submitted

Table of Contents

Title Introduction I. Origins of Critical Theory A. Friedrich Hegels View B. Karl Marxs View II. Definition of Critical Theory III. Classifications of Critical Theory A. Critical Theory as a Social Science 1. Competing Scientific Perspectives B. Critical Theory as a Human Science 1. Historical Science of Society 2. Socio-cultural Critique IV. Critique of Critical Theory A. Anti-scientific B. Too Elitist C. Too Rationalistic V. Boundaries of Critical Theory VI. Conclusion and Recommendations VII. Bibliography

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Introduction

Mans history, the chronological progression of different phases which is directly or indirectly influenced by forces generally derived from and by man himself. Our past, present, and logically our future will and shall be shaped by mans reason, by the intense and eager ambition of man to progress and find the infinite (if there is really such a thing) TRUTH. It is can be seen in our history that most if not all of the time such corrupt qualities (e.g. domination and exploitation) had made man to actually forge himself for the better, to get rid of the features that make him immoral and unjust to find the truth through the liberalization of the mind from the chains that binds it close, to fulfill the destiny beckoned by the immeasurability of mans rationality. Reason, for throughout history it had been restrained to exist (through the actuality that the society is divided for and by the elites which entirely controls the amount and quality of knowledge that the lower and majority class could have) by inflicting unequal distribution of resources that would forfeit man to actually progress himself through his ideas and thoughts. The liberalization1 of the mind, which historically started from the Enlightenment, had enabled man to use empirical methods to fashion the knowledge that hell believe. The freedom of thought had given man the ability to shape and reshape his future given that the means by which he may be able to know it is based upon his own method, his own liberalized system that would give rise to both the social and the natural sciences. Throughout time, the emancipation of knowledge (which led to the conception of critical theory) gave man the power to build his future it enabled him to actually justify his existence through empirical reasons that would more accurately define his being. Ideas created from this freedom had paved the way for new discourses that led to other forms of wisdom; it removed the blind fold of censorship that limited mans knowledge and reopened the eyes to seek for the truth which will able man to resolve the mysteries of this world together with his own obscurity as a thinking being.

Freedom to express, free will

I. Origins of Critical Theory

Critical theory can be rooted from the intellects that had conceived and made its existence. This discourse is said to be entrenched from the ideas of Friedrich Hegel and Karl Marx, wherein both of the ideas by the said thinkers were for the emancipation of man, both physically and rationally, from the exploitation and alienation of the elites that controls their being.

A. Friedrich Hegels View

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was born in Stuttgart on August 27, 1770, the son of a revenue officer with the civil service. He is a German idealist2 philosopher who became one of the most influential thinkers of the 19th century. His first and one of the most important works is the Phenomenology of the Mind which he made in 1807. He was strongly influenced by the politics and social system of Baruch Spinoza3, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, Johann Gottleib Fichte, and Schelling. Hegel is crucial in the formation of Critical theory due to the fact that the underlying notion that is of the structure of the social system, which within his context is conceptualized under the idealist notion, is primarily based on the clash of classes4 (which was further enhanced by Karl Marx by using the materialist5 faade). It was by Hegels notion that Karl Marx was able to perceive the fact that inequality and domination destroys the essence of humanity, the cultural and social defects that arise from these said qualities had concealed the potential of the mind to be critical and progress.

B. Karl Marxs View

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Philosophy which considers reality as an incarnation of universal idea or of a consciousness. Jewish-Dutch philosopher, denied the existence of God as creator or nature. 4 The struggle between exploited and exploiters. Demonstration that class interests are irreconcilable. 5 Recognizes matter as the primary element. One of the two main tendencies in philosophy which gives a specific reply to the relation between thought and existence.

Karl Heinrich Marx was born on May 5, 1818, from a comfortably middle class family in the Trier, Germany. He studied at the universities of Bonn, Berlin, and Jena. He and Friedrich Engels had been greatly influenced by the ideas of Hegel that they actually followed his discourse, although using a materialist lens to reconstruct Hegels system. One of Karl Marxs most famous work is the Communist Manifesto which was the first systematic statement of modern socialist doctrine. The views of Karl Marx, using his Historical Materialism, was primarily a critic of the prevailing social system that time (the Industrial Revolution heading to Capitalism) wherein the exploitation of the workers (proletariats) by the owners of the means of production6 (bourgeoisie) is highly rampant. Liberalization was highly acknowledged by Marx that he critically and literally stated that no man should be superior to another (wherein he actually formulated socialism7 which is commonly known today as communism8). The emancipation of the physical and rational being of man should be held constant for him to be able to progress. Mans ability to be critical, to actually look underneath the surface of anything had enabled change and progress for the better. Marx had delivered a modernistic way to look at society, him able to actually look at the system practically by looking at the base of economics9, to actually confer to the idea that man needs liberty from the elites to actually think and logically grow.

II. Definition of Critical Theory

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Instruments or tools with which material goods are produced. The equal distribution of wealth by eliminating private property. 8 The doctrine of Marx and Engels founded on the basis of the materialist conception of history. It is the stage after socialism and when social classes cease to exist. 9 The mode of production at the basis of any social system.

VII. Bibliography

Bender, Frederic. ed. Karl Marx: Essential Writings. USA: Westview Press, 1972. Critical Theory and Methodology, Volume 3. USA: Sage Publications, 1994. Godesberg, Bad. Karl Marx: 1818 1968. Germany: Internationes, 1968. Harrington, Michael. The Twilight of Capitalism. USA: Simon and Schuster, 1976. Lenin, Vladimir. Introduction to Marx, Engels, and Marxism. USA: International Publishers Co., 1987. Moore, Brooke Noel. Critical Thinking. USA: Mayfield Publishing House, 1989. Zizek, Slavos. The Ticklish Subject. London: Verso, 1999.