Climate Change and the Irrational Society

Theory and Event 26 (3):559-575 (2023)
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Abstract

This essay considers the catastrophe of anthropogenic climate change in relation to two possible critical-theoretic dispositions. The first, represented by an emblematic passage from Adorno, retains the hope for the realization of a “rational society.” The second, represented by a complementary passage from Foucault, enjoins critical theory to abandon any ambition toward criticizing or transforming society at a totalizing level. We argue that the unfolding climate catastrophe demands a conception of critical theory more in line with the first disposition, and that the relevance of the skeptical disposition is likewise seriously undermined if climate change is taken into account.

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2023-07-11

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Larry Alan Busk
Eckerd College
Iaan Reynolds
Utah Valley University

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References found in this work

Progress.Theodor W. Adorno - 1983 - Philosophical Forum 15 (1):55.
The Dialectic of Progress and the Cultivation of Resistance in Critical Social Theory.Iaan Reynolds - 2021 - Social Epistemology: A Journal of Knowledge, Culture, and Policy 1:1-12.
Political Philosophy in the Era of Climate Change.Johanna Oksala - 2016 - Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 37 (1):51-70.

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