Horkheimer’s (2002, 188–252) essay Traditional and Critical Theory, Marcuse’s (1988/1968, 43–87) article The Concept of Essence and the section The Foundations of the Dialectical Theory of Society in Marcuse’s (1941a, 258–322) book Reason and Revolution. These foundational texts make clear that the project of the Frankfurt School’s Critical Theory is not a narrow one focused on particular authors or approaches, but that Critical Theory should rather be understood as Marx-inspired and -influenced enquiries into the realities of power, exploitation and domination.
1.1.4. Critical Ethics
Critical theory has a ‘concern with human happiness’ (Marcuse 1988/1968, 135) and uses the Hegelian method of comparing essence and existence because in capitalism ‘what exists is not immediately and already rational’ (136). This essence can be found in man’s positive capacities (such as striving for freedom, sociality, co-operation) and it has the ethical implication that universal conditions should be created that allow all humans to realize these capacities:
That man is a rational being, that this being requires freedom, and that happiness is his highest good are universal propositions whose progressive impetus derives precisely from their universality. Universality gives them an almost revolutionary character, for they claim that all, and not merely this or that particular person, should be rational, free, and happy (Marcuse 1988/1968, 152).
1.1.5. Critique of Domination, Exploitation and Alienation
Critical theory holds that ‘man can be more than a manipulable subject in the production process of class society’ (Marcuse 1988/1968, 153). The goal of critical theory is the transformation of society as a whole (Horkheimer 2002, 219) so that a ‘society without injustice’ (221) emerges that is shaped by ‘reasonableness, and striving for peace, freedom, and happiness’ (222), ‘in which man’s actions no longer flow from a mechanism but from his own decision’ (229), and that is ‘a state of afairs in which there will be no exploitation or oppression’ (241).
Marx treated Kant’s fundamental philosophical questions about man and his knowledge, activities and hopes (What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope? What is the human?) in a specific way. He established a critical philosophy/theory and critical political economy that ‘demonstrate the concrete forces and tendencies that prevented and those that promoted’ the goal of a society that benefits all and the historical possibilities of such a society (Marcuse 1941a, 321). So Marx’s reformulation of Kant’s questions was his categorical imperative – the critique of domination and exploitation.
Introduction: Critical Theory of Communication
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