The limits of synthesis: Some comments on Habermas' recent sociological writings

Abstract

There is a growing schism in the ranks of critical theory. The division has become serious enough that we now find it necessary to dis? tinguish between the "classical critical theory" of the Frankfurt School and those revisions of critical thought which presently abound in the so? cial sciences. This revisionism is characterized by its rejection of the clas? sical paradigm's commitment to the premises of Western Marxism. It replaces the materialism and dialectical method of classical critical theory with a variety of theoretical alternatives such as language theory, an upgraded form of hermeneutic interpretation, or a recrudescent neo functionalism. In turning to these idealist conceptions this revisionism seems bent on constructing a sociological parody of that "critical criticism" which Marx and Engels dispatched in The German Ideology (1976; 23-31) more than a century ago. This paper discusses this revisionist trend as it has developed in the works of J?rgen Habermas. It begins by first tracing Habermas' theoreti? cal Odyssey from its origins in Western Marxism, to its current terminus in a neo-functionalist systems theory. Once having charted this trek, we will then critically evaluate the adequacy of the political economy that grounds Habermas' mature sociological theory. Finally, on the basis of that critique, we will take up the central theme of this paper: a con? sideration of the synthetic limits of Habermas' systems theory and the possibilities which recent advances in the theory of dissipative systems offer critical theory.