The Critical Humanism of the Frankfurt School as Social Critique (The Frankfurt School in New Times)

This book aims to extract a kind of Critical Humanism from the works of prominent members of the Frankfurt School. Oliver Kozlarek argues that what is compelling about this kind of restitution of humanism is the fact that it sought to be understood not as a conceptual-theoretical construction, but as a practice of critical social and cultural research. This means that it does not orient itself to an ideal image of the human being, but to making inhuman conditions of our current societies visible. It is above all in this sense that humanism is no longer understood in a Humboldtian, educational sense. Rather, it is about using critical social research as a political practice. Cover Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Why “Critical Humanism”? The Anti-Humanism That Is None Pseudohumanism-The Contradictions of Neoliberal Modernity Humanism as a Practice of Social Critique-The Legacy of Critical Theory References The Neoliberal “Abolition of Man” and Society The “Abolition of Man” Toward a Critique of Neoliberal Modernity From McDonaldization to Star Cult-The Corporate Culture of Neoliberalism Neoliberalism and the Abolition of Democracy The Cultural Revolution of Neoliberalism-A Perfect Ideology “Hyperculture” and “Cultural Essentialism” as Varieties of “Affirmative Culturalism” Culture Criticism as the Sign of the Totalization of Culture Culture Criticism as Social Criticism Neoliberalism and the Academic Storm against Enlightenment and Humanism Postmodernism: The “Cultural Logic” of Neoliberal Capitalism Postcolonialism versus Society Posthumanism: Simulating Humanity The Anthropocene: From the Abolition to the Perversion of “Man” The Humanistic Mask of Neoliberalism The End of Neoliberalism? References The Claim for a Humane Society and the Priority of Critical Social Research Max Horkheimer Critical Social Research against Philosophical Anthropology Cosmopolitan Humanism as Reconciliation Horkheimer’s Critical Theory as “Active Humanism” References Herbert Marcuse Marcuse’s “New Foundations of Historical Materialism” “Philosophy and Critical Theory” Humanization through Culture From Philosophy to Critical Social Theory Critical Humanism and Critical Social Theory References Erich Fromm’s “Normative Humanism” as Intellectual Minimalism Erich Fromm’s “Normative Humanism” The “Social Character” between “Having” and “Being” The Social and Cultural Scientific Tasks of “Normative Humanism” References Theodor W. Adorno What Does “Real Humanity” Mean? Adorno’s Anthropology of the “New Type of Man” Adorno’s Anthropology of the “New Type of Man” as Critical Social Research Dialectic of Enlightenment Authoritarian Personality Minima Moralia Adorno’s Humanism: From the Loss of “Real Humanity” to Critical Humanism Education in the Sense of a Humanistic Culture The Public Sphere and Sociology at the Service of Humanity From Mastery over Nature to a Humane Society References Walter Benjamin Remarks on the History of Publication and Reception Capitalism as a Religion and the Cunning of Instrumental Rationality The Critique of Violence as a Critique of Unbalanced Power “Critique of Violence” Today: The Problem of the Disempowered References Bolívar Echeverría “Critical Discourse” and Revolution “Critical Discourse” after 1989 The Theory of Modernity as Critique of Modernity “Real Modernity” in the Shadow of Capitalism “Real Humanity” and the Resistance of Life Forms “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” (Gil Scott Heron) References Conclusion References Index About the Author This book pretends to extract a kind of Critical Humanism from the works of prominent members of the Frankfurt School. Oliver Kozlarek argues that what is compelling about this kind of restitution of humanism is the fact that it sought to be understood not as a conceptual-theoretical construction, but as a practice of critical social and cultural research. This means that it does not orient itself to an ideal image of the human being, but to making inhuman conditions of our current societies visible. It is above all in this sense that humanism is no longer understood in a Humboldtian, educational sense. Rather, it is about using critical social research as a political practice.