Reason after Its Eclipse : On Late Critical Theory / Martin Jay.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jay, Martin, 1944- author.

Series:

George L. Mosse series in modern European cultural and intellectual history.

George L. Mosse series in modern European cultural and intellectual history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy, Modern.

Critical theory.

Reason.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (266 p.)

Place of Publication:

Madison, Wisconsin : The University of Wisconsin Press, [2016]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Martin Jay tackles a question as old as Plato and still pressing today: what is reason, and what roles does and should it have in human endeavor? Applying the tools of intellectual history, he examines the overlapping, but not fully compatible, meanings that have accrued to the term "reason" over two millennia, homing in on moments of crisis, critique, and defense of reason.After surveying Western ideas of reason from the ancient Greeks through Kant, Hegel, and Marx, Jay engages at length with the ways leading theorists of the Frankfurt School-Horkheimer, Marcuse, Adorno, and most extensively Habermas-sought to salvage a viable concept of reason after its apparent eclipse. They despaired, in particular, over the decay in the modern world of reason into mere instrumental rationality. When reason becomes a technical tool of calculation separated from the values and norms central to daily life, then choices become grounded not in careful thought but in emotion and will-a mode of thinking embraced by fascist movements in the twentieth century.Is there a more robust idea of reason that can be defended as at once a philosophical concept, a ground of critique, and a norm for human emancipation? Jay explores at length the ommunicative rationality advocated by Habermas and considers the range of arguments, both pro and con, that have greeted his work.

Contents:

Part I: The sun of reason. From the Greeks to the age of reason

Kant: reason as critique; the critique of reason

Hegel and Marx: dialectical reason

Reason in crisis

Part II: Reason's eclipse and return. The critique of instrumental reason: Horkheimer, Marcuse, and Adorno

Habermas and the communicative turn

Habermas and his critics.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780299306533

0299306534

OCLC:

939195943