Philosophy and Critical Theory

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Anastasia Marinopoulou

This chapter traces to what extent dialectics is an epistemological concern in Wilhelm Dilthey, E. Husserl, Georg Simmel and Max Weber. For Simmel, dialectics is a sort of methodological fragmentation, in the manner of the individual and society. By evaluating (implicitly) dialectics and (explicitly) scientific intersubjectivity, Simmel assesses the essence of his dual schema of forms and concepts, where both constitute the scientific criteria of the humanities. From a study of methodology, Dilthey proceeds to the philosophical contribution of epistemology and the epistemological contribution of philosophy to science. Philosophy and epistemology are pivotal parts of his theoretical concerns, without ever losing their conceptual equality in his work. Phenomenology's hermeneutic turn was inaugurated by Martin Heidegger. To be more precise, the hermeneutic turn that Heidegger introduced was an ontological turn of phenomenology, probably against Husserl's epistemological transcendentalism of the eidetic reduction.

in Critical theory and epistemology
Anastasia Marinopoulou

This chapter argues that no matter how hard the structuralists and post-structuralists try to avoid dealing with scientific dialectics, or as much as they merely reject it, their thinking still remains within the confines of dialectics. Following parallel lines of evolution, structuralism and poststructuralism relate to a phenomenological perspective on the sciences that intends to reveal a more rigorous science, which is achieved either a priori, as in Edmund Husserl, or a posteriori, as in ethnomethodology. The chapter shows that even if structures help the reader of epistemology to understand the scientific edifice, there can be no performative structure with dysfunctional or non-existent subjects of action. Furthermore, it addresses the implicit but remarkable 'anxiety' of structuralism and poststructuralism as far as the void of scientific elenchus is concerned. Poststructuralism attempts to address the previous deficit by prioritizing scientific reflexivity that produces accountability criteria for the sciences.

in Critical theory and epistemology
Abstract only
Anastasia Marinopoulou

Systems' rationality is an example of epistemology in Niklas Luhmann's work, for it produces a theoretical development that is critical of Jurgen Habermas' corresponding notion, prominent in its manifestation and promising in its proliferation. Luhmann owes much inspiration for his systems theory to the structural understanding of society and science. Thus, he attempts a deconstruction of the modern. In his understanding, since the Enlightenment, the modern presupposes but also produces reason, dialectics and the rationality of the sciences. The main argument of this chapter holds that instead of the formalism of systems theory, social enlightenment and political rationality are the outcomes of normative theory and rational praxis, which owe their validity and applicability to the formation of dialectical reason. Luhmann's reversal of critical theory into a traditional theory takes the form of a distortion of modernity in which systems theory is presented as the novel and innovative epistemology for modernity.

in Critical theory and epistemology