Abstract

Phenomenology and Critical Theory sprang from the same historical root, namely, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment thought. In my Handbook of Critical Theory,1 I traced the development of Critical Theory from its Hegelian and Marxist origins to its manifestation in the first and second generations of the so-called Frankfurt School. Although I won't do the same for phenomenology here, it is worth noting that the two traditions, phenomenology and Critical Theory, share Kant's idea of practical philosophy, with its emphasis on practical reason and the philosophy of action. Hence, it is not surprising that among phenomenologists, Paul Ricoeur would..