1. Foucault’s Genealogy andHabermas’ Critique - Differing Ways out of the Dialectic ofEnlightenment.
- Author
-
Biebricher, Thomas
- Subjects
- *
MODERNITY , *CRITICAL theory , *CULTURE , *CRITICISM (Philosophy) , *MODERN philosophy , *SOCIAL theory - Abstract
For a long time the works of Habermas and Foucault have been considered to be almost dichotomous, harbouring irreconcilable differences. The one working in the Hegelmarxist tradition of the Frankfurt School’s Critical Theorists, whereas the other, being a Poststructuralist endowed with the typical scepticism with regard to modernity, above all cites the notorious Nietzsche as his main influence. The objective of the paper is to challenge this neat dichotomy by placing both, Habermas and Foucault in the tradition of Critical Theory as it is exemplified in the Dialectic of Enlightenment, being the seminal work of Frankfurt School thinkers Horkheimer and Adorno. It will be argued that both, Habermas and Foucault share certain premises with the critical approach of Horkheimer/Adorno. However, more importantly, the critical enterprises of Habermas and Foucault exhibit certain new features that can be interpreted as an attempt – though not a conscious one in Foucault’s case – to overcome the shortcomings of the critical project of Horkheimer/Adorno. While Habermas tries to avoid the flaws of their allegedly self-defeating critique by introducing the concept of communicative rationality that is to serve as the foundation of critique, Foucault chooses another way out of the dilemma of the Dialectic of Enlightenment. In the view presented in this paper, he resorts to a Nietzschean Genealogical approach that rests on a hybrid mixture of fact and fiction making heavy use of rhetorical devices. Most importantly, this approach avoids the problem of a self-defeating critique by radically reducing the knowledge and truth claims it raises, depicting itself as being just one interpretation among others. Thus, it will be argued, Habermas and Foucault modify the critique of Horkheimer/Adorno in differing aspects, the effect of both being ways to circumvent the problem of performative contradiction. Habermas sticks to the tradition of the Dialectic of Enlightenment insofar as he continues to raise strong truth claims while abandoning the all-encompassing, totalising critique of the latter, explicitly exempting certain phenomena from the critique to use them as a foundation for his critical task. Foucault, conversely, sticks to the notion of an all-encompassing critique while reducing the respective knowledge claims, thereby escaping from performative contradiction. Therefore, it will be argued, both Habermas and Foucault can be described as heirs to the early Frankfurt School. Their critical enterprises share some of the latter’s premises while at the same time modifying certain elements to provide differing ways out of the dilemma of the self-defeating critique of the Dialectic of Enlightenment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2004
- Full Text
- View/download PDF