Dialogue

Hans-Herbert Kögler

Chapter 29 in Research Handbook on Critical Theory, 2026, pp 324-336 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Since Max Horkheimer, critical theory aims at a fusion of empirical social analysis with normative philosophical ideals. The second generation of the Frankfurt School abandoned previous attempts derived from German idealism and the Marxist tradition. Instead, intersubjective dialogue, sociologically reinterpreted by Habermas as communicative action, becomes the central theoretical resource. This chapter sets the stage by showing how Habermas's normative vision remains entangled in problematic macro-theoretical abstractions. To renew the early critical theory's fusion of empirical agency and normative ideals, a culturally situated conception of dialogic understanding, based on the holistic embeddedness of the interpreting self in contingent and power-impregnated contexts, is articulated. Three case studies concerning a critique of power-infused schemes of understanding (Said), reflexive self-interpretations in power-defined contexts (Mahmoud), and emancipatory interpretations of power-defined experiences (Fricker), exemplify hermeneutic practices of dialogic interpretation that constitute empirical enactments of normative ideals.

Keywords: Communicative Action; Dialogue; Critical Hermeneutics; Orientalism; Feminism; Reflexive Anthropology; Hermeneutic Injustice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781800373754
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