Critical Theory and the Pursuit of a Political Education

This essay considers the role of “critical theory” in the university and the shape of future research in this intellectual tradition. I draw from Max Horkheimer’s early elaborations on a “social philosophy” to identify the theoretical terrain on which the “Frankfurt School” was founded and the principles upon which it might be renewed today. I also treat Adorno’s melancholy science and Marcuse’s philosophy of liberation in light of Horkheimer’s original research program and statement. The larger argument is on behalf of a critical theory that attends to human needs, passions, and desires, not as timeless essences or inward feelings, but as social and historical forces.