What impact might this have on social relations, politics, etc. One of the most important legacies of the past that persists in cultural critique today is the notion that no culture can be regarded as self-justifying . In other words, the meaning is derived from how it is used within a particular discourse on culture. Theory - an activity in which concepts and models are used to describe, interpret, and explain phenomena. Cultural studies is one such discourse.
Critical discourses vary from the purely abstract to the purely rhetorical .
Freedom achieved through objective observation , reason , and critique . This had the effect of weakening the critical aspect while strengthening the individual . Subjective Idealism . Materialism Rejects hermeneutics' reliance on subjective imagination and its lack of criticality. Psychoanalysis When physiological and rational explanations of some abnormal behaviors were found inadequate, Freud developed a new explanatory theory based on the unconscious , i.e. an aspect of the mind between the purely material, biological level and conscious thought and perception.