Descent of the Dialectic: Phronetic Criticism in an Age of Nihilism(Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy)

This book reconstructs the concept and practice of dialectics as a means of grounding a critical theory of society. At the center of this project is the thesis of phronetic criticism or a form of reason that is able to synthesize human value with objective rationality. This book argues that defects in modern forms of social reason are the result of the powers of social structure and the norms and purposes they embody. Increasingly, modern societies are driven not by substantive values concerning human good but by the technical imperatives of economic management, leading to a cultural condition of nihilism that has eroded dialectical consciousness. The first half of the book demonstrates the various ways that social power erodes and undermines critical-rational forms of consciousness. The second part of the book constructs an alternative basis for critical reason by showing how it requires seeing human value as essentially ontological: that is, constituted by objective forms of sociality that either promote human freedom or pervert our capacities and drive toward pathological forms of life. The philosophical claim is that a critical theory of ethics must be rooted in these concrete forms of life and that this will serve as a critical vantage point for critical political judgment and transformational praxis. Descent of the Dialectic will be of interest to researchers working in philosophy, political theory, social theory, and critical theory.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction Part 1: Nihilism and the Descent of Dialectics 1. On Dialectical Reason and its Descent 2. Reification as an Ontological Concept 3. Value Irrationality and the Failures of Deliberative Democracy 4. On the Concept of Social Pathology Part 2: Dialectics, Ontology and Phronetic Criticism 5. Negation without Ontology: Rethinking Adorno’s Late Philosophy 6. Ontologizing the Dialectic: Lukács on the Foundations for a Marxian Ethics 7. Toward an Ontology of Social Relations 8. Critical Social Ontology and the Practice of Phronetic Criticism

About the Author :
Michael J. Thompson is Professor of Political Theory at William Paterson University and a psychoanalyst in New York City. His recent books include The Domestication of Critical Theory, The Specter of Babel: A Reconstruction of Political Judgment, and Twilight of the Self: The Decline of the Individual in Late Capitalism.

Review :
"Looking to explain the limited prospects for emancipatory transformation emerging from contemporary critical thought, Thompson encourages us to move beyond the paradigms of communicative action and recognition theory in order to diagnose effectively the disfigurements of subjectivity today. He argues compellingly for a critical reason that addresses the pathological ways in which processes of socialisation shape individuals, leaving the latter unable to question their own value-orientations. Fusing a critical account of Adorno’s later philosophy with fresh readings of Aristotle, Marx, Hegel, and Lukács, Thompson constructs a critical humanism for the twenty-first century." Robert P. Jackson, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK “Wholly convincing, Thompson advocates for a reconceptualization of the social ontology, of social progression, and how beings can reclaim a generative and cooperative telos. For this, the field must overcome a subjectivist epistemology and ethics in order to form one based in objectivity, to which Thompson puts us on the right path with Descent of the Dialectic.” Critical Sociology “Beyond social, political, and philosophical theorists, this work is of interest to all that seek to better understand themselves as a social-relational being. Easily accessible, and with deep ties to history, this work presents the social ontological argument of a critical theory of society that deepens the connection of theory and praxis.” New Political Science