Our reply to Fabian Freyenhagen’s article “Was ist orthodoxe Kritische Theorie?” (DZPhil 65.3 [2017], 456-469) raises the question whether his proposal that Critical Theory only “be adequately and appropriately critical” without a program of justification spares the search for any general criteria. Answering negatively we conversely want to recall, particularly with regard to Horkheimers’s and Adornos’s Dialectic of Enlightment as well as Habermas‘s concept of an emancipatory interest, that such a criterion as a normative foundation of critique is crucial not (...) only for systematical purposes, but also recognised as necessary in this respect by Adorno, who Freyenhagen wants to play off against programs of justification. Critical Theory needs to be clear in this respect. Against this background we are questioning Freyenhagen‘s recourse to an “interest in abolishing social injustice” as the “only criterion for Critical Theory.” Because Freyenhagen ignores the fact that Critical Theory has been understood by its representatives in a twofold manner – as a theoretical program of justification for one and secondly as a cultural diagnosis – his plea for an orthodox Critical Theory is endangered by decisionism. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThis paper is about Marxist political economy and Critical Discourse Studies as a field of inquiry. It begins with a discussion of the traditional role of Marxist political economy in CDS, arguing that for the most part it has been limited and partial. It then considers an example of a serious attempt to carry out a Marxist political economy analysis of discourse in society – Claudia Ortu’s [2008. The denial of class struggle by British Governments in their anti-union discourse. Critical (...) Discourse Studies, 5, 289–301] analysis of the denial of class struggle and anti-union discourse in Britain in the period 1978–2007. This leads to a discussion of the author's recent research on material and discursive class warfare in contemporary Spain, focussing specifically on conflicts arising between a right-wing government defending the interests of the banks and elites and a grass-roots organisation defending the interests of the popular classes, in particular those who either have lost, or are in danger of losing, their homes due to mortgage default. The paper ends with some thoughts on the future of CDS, with or without a clear Marxist political economy base. (shrink)