Discourse, desire and fantasy
Subtitle: a psychoanalytic and philosophical study of the foundations of Jüergen Habermas's critical social theory.
Published: 2005
Language: eng
Number of pages: 299
Description: This thesis argues that Jurgen Habermas's critical social theory can be productively developed by incorporating a wider understanding of fantasy and imagination as a cogent part of its critical analysis of communicative pathologies. Given that meaning is generated both linguistically and performatively, the imagination, as a non-linguistic substratum of consciousness, must be taken into consideration as an affective and intersubjective aspect practical fife, both guiding and shaping human interests. In doing so it is my intention that Habermasian social theory might renew its increasingly severed ties with the early critical theory of the Frankfurt School. Thus, rekindling the relevance of the ernancipatory intent in his earlier work is one of the touchstones of this project.The fourth and fifth sections of my thesis examine the possibility of developing an alternative path for critical theorising, one more inclusive of particularity and difference and the importance of non-linguistic elements operative within communicative action. The fourth chapter examines three explications (Walter Benjamin, Theodor W. Adorno, and Slavoj Zizek) of cognitive rupture and the progressive development of agency and authorship in relation to intersubjectivity. It is argued here that the limitations of Habermas's approach can be overcome through the articulation of a post-hermeneutic critical theory, one with a greater emphasis on the discontinuities of perception and understanding. The last chapter examines the work of Habermas and Axel Honneth, contrasting it with the psychoanalytic thought of Jessica Benjamin. It is argued that psychoanalysis and feminist theory are in ideal positions to highlight the importance of both language and performance (struggles for recognition) in relation to the internalisation of authority and the desire to dominate others. My conclusion holds that while Habermas's social theory is one of the most promising research proposals, it stands to be strengthened by complementary analyses in psychoanalytic and feminist research.The study begins a cursory glance at the work of Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno, and Herbert Marcuse, with specific attention given to their use of concepts including ideology and ideology critique, nature and culture, and reconciliation and utopian longing. Such notions, it is argued, might serve as building blocks for the progressive development of critical theory. The second chapter deals with Habermas's earlier work, especially  Knowledge and Human Interests, and his controversial appropriation of psychoanalysis. Looking at Habermas's understanding of labour and interaction, the work of Joel Whitebook is used to illustrate his inadequate theorisation of internal nature. Further engaging Habermas's earlier interests, the third chapter examines Habermas's debate with Hans-Georg Gadamer, arguing that the position proposed by Habermas is not as conclusive as he hopes. Delving into the difficulties of this debate, I turn to the work of Jay Bernstein and Albrecht Wellmer, theorists sympathetic to Habermas yet critical of the more formalistic elements of his approach, as offering a more productive response to the challenges of hermeneutic forms of inquiry.
Notes: Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

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Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-06, Section: A, page: 2410.