Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'PHILOSOPHY / Movements / Critical Theory'
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1
Marriott, Stephen Charles. "Critical theory : reason and dialectic." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2000. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2823/.
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Whilst Hegel's influence upon the Frankfurt School's reconstruction of Marx has not gone unnoticed, this influence has never really been adequately theorised. In particular, the question of how the Frankfurt School understood the relation between Hegel's method and Marx's materialism has received very little systematic attention. The present study is a response to this situation: it presents the Frankfurt Marxist tradition as a significant although by no means uncritical contribution to the theory of historical materialism. Moreover, that contribution is shown to derive from some of the central concepts of Hegel's philosophy. Thus in opposition to those commentators, Marxists and non-Marxists alike, who have tended to view Frankfurt Marxism as an exercise in eclectic revisionism, I argue that the work of Horkheimer and his colleagues constitutes an attempt to restate and defend, on the basis of an immanent critique of Hegel's idealism, the fundamental principles of Marx's historical materialism. Accordingly, the central chapters of this thesis are devoted to a close examination of the way in which members of the Frankfurt School, building on the work of Lukács and Korsch, sought to appropriate Hegel's subject-object dialectic on behalf of materialism. In the course of this investigation the following themes come to prominence: the relation between Hegel's social philosophy and a critical theory of society; Horkheimer's project of multi-disciplinary materialism; the methodological significance of the category of totality; materialism as the preponderance of the object; the possibility and nature of a Freud-Marx synthesis; the concept of a critical as opposed to a traditional scientific theory of society. Taken together these themes constitute the basic problematic of the Frankfurt Marxist tradition. The intention of this study is to demonstrate the importance of that problematic for the further development of the materialist theory of history and society.
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Foster, Roger Stephen. "Domination and disintegration: Adorno and critical social theory." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/8569.
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The central claim of my thesis is that Theodor Adorno's social theory harbours important insights which can bring to light significant deficiencies and weaknesses in the works of contemporary critical theorists. In order to substantiate this claim, I argue that Adorno's philosophical and sociological writings embody a coherent and systematic version of critical social theory. I then attempt to place Adorno's version of critical social theory in critical and constructive dialogue with the successors to the tradition of Frankfurt School critical theory (Jurgen Habermas and Axel Honneth). This is achieved by reconstructing and reinterpreting Adorno's key theses through insights developed in contemporary social theory. Part One demonstrates, firstly, how Adorno's critical social theory developed from out of the problems of the earlier social-theoretic 'paradigms'. In chapter two, I argue that Adorno, in Negative Dialectics, develops a conception of critical theory as a 'critical dialectic of concepts', derived from a synthesis of the Durkheimian sociology of knowledge, and Hegelian dialectic. Chapter three attempts to substantiate and develop this thesis, and also shows how Adorno develops a theory of linguistic reification. In chapter four, I attempt to expound the social theory underlying the philosophical arguments of Negative Dialectics. In Part Two, I deploy the insights derived from the analysis of Adorno's work in order to furnish a critique of Habermas's critical theory, concerned with its failure to develop an adequate critique of class- and group-specific domination (chapter five) and problems stemming from its formal/abstract conception of moral-practical reason (chapter six). I then turn, in Part Three, to the critical theory of recognition. It is argued that, by returning the concept of social struggle to the centre of the analysis, the theory of recognition is able to theorize structures of domination and oppositional praxis far more adequately than the Habermasian account. However, I argue that this theory needs to integrate insights deriving from Adorno's thesis of integration through domination. I argue that the concept of symbolic power provides for a plausible reconstruction of Adorno's integration thesis, by interpreting integration through domination as occurring at the symbolic rather than the psychic level. In the final chapter, I draw upon contemporary social theory in order to furnish an interpretation of Adorno's social theory as articulating a twofold distortion of instrumental reason, which I characterize as a dialectic of increasing integration through domination, and intensifying lifeworld disintegration.
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Rapalo, Castellanos Renan. "The critique of modernity and the claims of critical theory /." Digital version accessible at:, 1998. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/main.
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Rodriguez, Lopez Juan-Pablo. "The possibility of social critique : between critical social theory and social movements." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1983/2d7edd90-e0d7-498b-bf1a-6fc0d727b5a8.
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The global wave of mobilisations that took place after the 2008 financial crisis prompted social movement scholars and radical thinkers to highlight the ability of social actors to resist capitalism and develop new forms of radical democracy. This initial moment of 'effervescence' has been followed by a longer period of balance and critical evaluation. In this context, critical theorists have welcomed the renewal of social critique after a long period of withdrawal and the enunciation of a post-critical era. However, this renewal has taken place at the expense of critical theory's social significance. In this work, I propose a productive cross-fertilisation of the various realms in which the social critique of capitalism has (separately) taken place: critical social theory and practices of social criticism carried out by social movements. Drawing on Fredric Jameson's notion of an 'aesthetic of cognitive mapping' and on Luc Boltanski's critical sociology, the thesis argues that the affinities between the two forms of critique provide a basis upon which a politically and theoretically productive articulation might be built. In the first part, I explore four different styles of theoretical critique - from David Harvey to Luc Boltanski - highlighting their merits and limitations. In the second part, I delve into the practices of criticism of capitalist society carried out by two Chilean social movements: the pobladores' movement and the student movement, respectively, in order to explore how social critique is performed in the context of concrete social struggles. Pobladores and students have been resisting, mapping, and contesting neoliberal policies in Chile since the beginning of the 2000s, actualising old practices of resistance in a new and fragmented social context. By disclosing the affinities between the practices of social critique at both levels, I contend that critical theorists can learn from social movements' descriptions and explanations, and thus rehabilitate its political emancipatory dimension.
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Madiraju, Santhosh Kumar. "Discourse on rationality : rational choice and critical theory." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1996. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/6102/.
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The thesis contrasts two hostile and divergent intellectual paradigms in social sciences: rational choice and critical theory. Both rational choice and critical theory offer contrasting perspectives on the structures of social interaction. However, both critical theory and rational choice theory share overlapping concerns ie., both are preoccupied with determining what rational can mean in the realm of social and political interaction. In the case of rational choice paradigm, instrumental reason forms the cornerstone of the theoretical edifice. Ever since the publication of Jurgen Habermas' The lhemy qf Communicative Action Vol. / (1984) and Vol. II (1986) instrumental reason has come under severe attack. His critique anchors on a theory of communicative reason. What makes Habermas' work distinctive is that he does not regard instrumental reason as the single inevitable concomitant of modernity. Habermas sees in modernity an alternative way of conceptualising social interaction in terms of communication rather than strategy. So in a way, his work is a challenge to the defenders of modernity aiming to build a unified social science Jurgen Habermas advances the notion of communicative reason as the centerpiece of a social theory as opposed to instrumental reason. By providing a systematic grounding of the concept of reason in human language, he hopes to establish normative basis of critical theory. This model of reaching agreement or consent constitutes a process of dialogue in which reasons are exchanged between participants. This process is perceived to be a joint search for consensus. Such a dialogic concept of collective choice would necessarily work not with fixed preferences to be amalgamated (as rational choice theories do) but with preferences that are altered or modified as competing reasons are advanced in the course of discussion. In rational discussion, the only thing supposed to count is the power of better argument. Both rational choice and critical theory conceptualise politics in different ways. Rational choice theories critique democratic mechanisms failing to generate general will. Consequently, the political prescriptions offered are limited government or market. On the contrary, the political implications of Habermas' theory of deliberative democracy is anchored in the notion of liberal public sphere envisaging a cognitivist, rationalist vision in which discourse forms a critical normative basis for evaluating the political and moral principles.
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Nemiroff, Greta Hofmann 1937. "From humanistic education to critical humanism : the dialectics of theory and praxis." Thesis, McGill University, 1990. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=59423.
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This thesis articulates the philosophy of The New School of Dawson College, an alternative pre-university Arts programme in a community college in Montreal. The roots of The New School's philosophy are examined and critiqued in the works of: Dewey, the existentialists, popular educational critics of the 1960s, Maslow, Rogers, the humanistic and "Values" educators, Kozol, Freire, Aronowitz, Giroux and feminist educational theorists.The thesis focuses, however, on the dialectical relationship between theory and praxis in the development of educational philosophy. It describes the process by which various elements to be found in the works of these educational philosophers are tested by and integrated into the pedagogy of the school, contributing to its educational philosophy of Critical Humanism.
This thesis combines philosophical analysis with concrete examples of a praxis which is informed by and, in turn, informs educational theory.
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Heydari, Fard Sahar. "The Morality of Social Movements." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1623240271431722.
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Kingston, Stephen. "Dilemmas of British and Italian feminist movements and critical social theory : reflexive critiques." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.396820.
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In this thesis critical social theory is used to assess the historical status of modern feminist movements, the experience of which is used in turn to assess the usefulness of certain key concepts from critical social theory. In particular Habermas' concept of the ideal speech situation is used to determine how far feminist movements fall into the tradition of earlier uni versalising social movements. This concept is used both to analyse the forms of the movements (their structures and practices) and their substantive activity in the area of political demands. The ideal speech situation indicates that feminist movements were in a state of permanent tension between competing commitments, especially universalist and particularist imperatives. This dual logic can be seen in the pursuit of a renegotiation of the publicI private divide. It can also be seen in the debates among feminists in the educational context. In conclusion, it is suggested that feminist movements were both dependent on and undermined by the tension between universalism and particularism. However, the problems raised by these movements give indications that the ideal speech situation may prove inadequate as a normative guide, particularly owing to the problems relating to fertility explored by feminism.
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Leung, Kwan-yuen Physer. "For a critical theory of law: a Levinasian critique of Dworkin's theory of law as integrity and Habermas'sdiscourse theory of law." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1999. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31238853.
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Dixon, Martin J. C. "Composition as praxis : on Adorno's philosophy of aesthetic production." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1999. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/272180.
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Hermanus, Lauren. "Difference, boundaries and violence : a philosophical exploration informed by critical complexity theory and deconstruction." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/5254.
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Thesis (MA (Philosophy))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is a philosophical exposition of violence informed by two theoretical positions which confront complexity as a phenomenon. These positions are complexity theory and deconstruction. Both develop systemsbased understandings of complex phenomena in which relations of difference are constitutive of the meaning of those phenomena. There has been no focused investigation of the implications of complexity for the conceptualisation of violence thus far. In response to this theoretical gap, this thesis begins by distinguishing complexity theory as a general, trans-disciplinary field of study from critical complexity theory. The latter is used to develop a critique and criticism of epistemological foundationalism, emphasising the limits to knowledge and the normative and ethical dimension of knowledge and understanding. The epistemological break implied by this critique reiterates the epistemological shift permeating the work of, among others, Friedrich Nietzsche and Jacques Derrida. In this context, critical complexity theory begins to articulate the idea of violence on two levels: first, as an empirical, ethical problem in the system; and, secondly, as asymmetry and antagonism. Violence in this second sense is implicated in the dynamic relations of difference through which structure and meaning are generated in complex organisation. The sensitivity to difference and violence shared by critical complexity theory and deconstruction allows for the parallel reading of these philosophical perspectives; and for the supplementation and opening of critical complexity theory by deconstruction within the architecture of this thesis. This supplementation seeks to preserve the singularity of each perspective, while exploring the potential of their points of affinity and tension in the production of a coherent philosophical analysis of violence. Deconstruction offers a more developed understanding of violence and a wealth of related motifs: différance, framing, law, singularity, aesthetics and others. These motifs necessitate the inclusion of other philosophical voices, notably, that of Nietzsche, Arendt, Kant, Levinas, and Benjamin. In conversation with these authors, this thesis links violence to meaning, to its possibility, to its production and to the process by which meaning comes to change. Given these links, violence is conceptualised in relation to the notion of difference on three distinct levels. The first is the difference between elements in a complex system of meaning; the second is the notion of difference between systems or texts around which boundaries or frames can be drawn; and the third is the notion of difference between meaning and the absence of meaning. This discussion examines the relationship between this violence implicated in the constitution of meaning and the more colloquial understanding of violence as atrocity, as rape, murder and other socially, politically and ethically problematic expressions thereof. It is to empirical violence, following Derrida and Levinas, that we are called to respond and to intervene in the suffering of the other. The ethical and political necessity of response anchors this discussion of violence. And, it is towards the possibility of an adequate response – the possibility of an ethics sensitive to its own violence and a politics that is directed at the eradication of empirical violence – which this discussion navigates.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis is ’n filosofiese uiteensetting van geweld wat deur twee denkwyses ingelig word wat kompleksiteit as fenomeen konfronteer. Hierdie denkwyses is kompleksiteitsteorie en dekonstruksie. Altwee ontwikkel sisteemgebaseerde verduidelikings van komplekse fenomene waar verhoudings van verskille die betekenis van hierdie fenomene beslaan. Daar is tot dusver nog geen gefokusde ondersoek na die implikasies van kompleksiteit vir die konsepsualisering van geweld nie. As antwoord op hierdie teoretiese leemte, begin hierdie tesis deur kompleksiteitsteorie as ’n algemene, trans-dissiplinêre studierigting van kritiese kompleksiteitsteorie te onderskei. Laasgenoemde word gebruik om kritiese denke van epistemologiese grondslae te ontwikkel, en beklemtoon die perke op kennis en die normatiewe en etiese aspek van kennis en verstaan. Die epistemologiese verwydering wat deur hierdie kritiek geïmpliseer word, herhaal die epistemologiese verskuiwing wat die werk van onder andere Friedrich Nietzsche en Jacques Derrida, deurdring. In hierdie konteks begin kritiese kompleksiteitsteorie om die konsep van geweld op twee vlakke te verwoord: eerstens as ’n empiriese, etiese probleem in die stelsel en tweedens as asimmetrie en antagonisme. Geweld in die tweede opsig word in die dinamiese verhoudings van verskil geïmpliseer, waar struktuur en betekenis in komplekse organisasie gegenereer word. Die sensitiwiteit vir verskil en geweld wat deur kritiese kompleksiteitsteorie en dekonstruksie gedeel word neem parallelle lesings van hierdie filosofiese perspektiewe in ag; sowel as die aanvulling en oopmaak van kritiese kompleksiteitsteorie deur dekonstruksie binne die struktuur van hierdie tesis. Hierdie aanvulling wil die enkelvoudigheid van elke perspektief bewaar, terwyl dit die potensiaal van hul punte van verwantskap en spanning in die produksie van ’n koherente filosofiese analise van geweld verken. Dekonstruksie bied ’n meer ontwikkelde verstaan van geweld en ’n rykdom van verwante motiewe: différance, beraming, wet, enkelvoudigheid, estetika en ander. Hierdie motiewe noodsaak die insluiting van ander filosofiese stemme, soos Nietzsche, Arendt, Kant, Levinas en Benjamin. Hierdie tesis tree in gesprek met hierdie skrywers en skakel geweld aan betekenis, aan die moontlikheid, aan die produksie en aan die proses waardeur betekenis na verandering lei. Gegewe hierdie skakels, word geweld in verhouding tot die begrip van verskil op drie spesifieke vlakke gekonsepsualiseer. Die eerste is die verskil tussen elemente in ’n komplekse stelstel van betekenis; die tweede is die begrip van verskil tussen stelsels of tekste waar grense of rame om getrek kan word; en die derde is die begrip van verskil tussen betekenis en die afwesigheid van betekenis. Hierdie bespreking stel ondersoek in na die verhouding tussen hierdie geweld wat in die samestelling van betekenis geïmpliseer word en die meer alledaagse verstaan van geweld as wreedardigheid, as verkragting, moord en ander maatskaplike, politiese en etiese problematiese uitdrukkings daarvan. Ons word geroep om op empiriese geweld, in navolging van Derrida en Levinas, te reageer en in te gryp om die lyding van ander te keer. Die etiese en politiese noodsaaklikheid van reaksie dien as grondslag vir hierdie bespreking van geweld. Uiteindelik beweeg hierdie bespreking nader aan die moontlikheid van ’n voldoende reaksie – die moontlikheid van ’n etiek wat sensitief vir sy eie geweld is en ’n politiek wat op die uitwis van empiriese geweld gerig is.
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Russell, J. P. "Moral sentiment and the rationale of responsibility : A critical study of Hume's theory." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1986. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.234002.
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Gilbert, Bruce. "Critical theory and Christian ethics: a new dialogue." Thesis, McGill University, 1993. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=109314.
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Note:This thesis explores the ways that Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno's Critical Theory and the ethics of Christian liberation theology mutually inform each other. Horkheimer and Adorno' s theories of the "dialectic of enlightenment" and “negative dialectics" provide a self-critical social analysis that interconnects the domination of humanity by humanity and the domination of nature in a way that strengthens the critique of Christian ethics. Further, Horkheimer and Adorno's "longing for the wholly other" resonates profoundly with Christians who believe in a God of Justice. By the same token, Christian reflection on critical Theory leads to a critique ofHorkheimer and Adorno's excessive distance from political practice and their narrow understanding of radical praxis. In this “new dialogue" the project of Christian ethics develops a more substantial critique of domination, while the Critical Theory of Horkheimer and Adorno is critiqued and renewed.
Cette thèse examine les différentes manieres avec lesquelles la Théorie Critique et l'éthique de la théologie de la libération chrétienne s'entrecroisent et s'informent mutuellement. Les théories d'Horkheimer et d'Adorno sur la "dialectique de la raison" et "dialectique négative" apportent une analyse altocritique de la société et associent la domination de l'humanité par l'humanité et la domination de la nature de manière à renforcer la critique de l'éthique chrétienne. De plus, le concept du "désir pour le tout Autre" qui ont Horkeimer et Adorno résonne profondément chez les chrétiens qui fondent leurs foi dans un Dieu de Justice. Dans ce sens, la réflection chrétienne sur la Théorie Critique amène une critique d'Horkheimer et Adorno qui veut noter leur distance excessive envers les pratiques poli tiques et leurs mécompréhension du praxis radical. Dans ce "nouveau dialogue ll le projet chrétien de l'éthique, amène une critique plus substantiel de ce qui est la domination et de ce fait renouvelle et illumine la Théorie Critique d'Horkheimer et D'Adorno.
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Saar, Martin. "Rethinking Resistance: Critical Theory before and after Deleuze." Universität Leipzig, 2020. https://ul.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A72855.
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At the beginning of 1930, Theodor W. Adorno, who was only 28 years old, was awarded the venia legendi (teaching permission) for philosophy and the academic title “Privatdozent”, after his Habilitationsschrift (on Kierkegaard) had been accepted by the faculty of philosophy on the basis of two positive reviews, by Adorno’s older friend and mentor Max Horkheimer and the prominent theologian-philosopher Paul Tillich. This title traditionally comes without academic position or pay, but is the precondition for applications for the position of professor. In early May, he was obliged to give his inaugural lecture to the academic public, and he chose a rather programmatic subject, “The Actuality of Philosophy”, using the occasion for a rigorous critique of the major trends in current German academic philosophy and a bold statement concerning the possible future of a certain kind of materialist philosophy which he was just about to develop.
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Giles, Douglas. "Rethinking misrecognition and struggles for recognition : critical theory beyond Honneth." Thesis, University of Essex, 2017. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/20460/.
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This thesis critically analyzes Axel Honneth’s theories of misrecognition and struggles for recognition and argues for two main conceptualizations to address shortcomings in his theories. The first conceptualization is that recognition and misrecognition behaviors are better understood along three dimensions of engagement—norms, individuals, and actions. We can use this multidimensional view to identify misrecognitions in which the problems are in vertical recognition, either disengagement from norms or engagement with problematic norms, and misrecognitions in which the problems are in horizontal recognition, during which there is insufficient or improper engagement with other individuals. The multidimensional view of misrecognition overcomes Honneth’s overly positive picture of recognition and lack of a robust account of misrecognition and shows how negative recognition fits into the normative structure of social life while acknowledging the positive value of recognition. The second conceptualization is an expanded view of struggles for recognition that takes such struggles beyond group political conflicts into everyday social experiences. I identify two problems in Honneth’s formulation of struggles for recognition: his premise that emotional experiences of disrespect motivate struggles for recognition is contradictory without an account of individual agency, and his theoretical reliance on political resistance movements neglects other paths responses to injustice can take. To address these problems, I argue that there are two types of struggles for recognition, affirmational (related to practical identity) and rectificatory (related to efforts to change social circumstances), and that individuals’ familiarity with affirmational struggles enables them to engage in rectificatory struggles against injustice. Individuals respond to injustice in varied ways other than organized political action, and this is significant for critical theory. The common thread in these two conceptualizations is the importance of individuals’ normative experiences in ethical life and social change. Power structures shape social relations, but individuals actively instigate many instances of injustice.
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Taggart, Geoff. "A philosophy of spiritual education drawn from process thought and critical theory." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.397455.
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Durning, Louise. "The Architecture of Humanism : an historical and critical analysis of Geoffrey Scott's architectural theory." Thesis, University of Essex, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.276634.
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gallego, brady s. "COUNTER-PROPAGANDA EDUCATION: A CRITICAL POSTMODERN PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2015. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/127.
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Philosophy of education not only forms the background for curriculum construction and pedagogy but there is a connection between epistemology and education within the economic power structure of society in the United States (Aronowitz & Giroux, 1993/1991, p. 88). Public education in the United States often functions as a propaganda delivery system which conserves the economic power structure by use of a conservative and objectivist philosophy of education which instrumentalizes education into vocational preparation, compliance to a governing ideology and uncritical acceptance of knowledge as absolute truth (Aronowitz & Giroux, p. 22). This project aims to construct a philosophy of education which could transform the education system into a counter-propaganda institution with the potential to transform the power structure of society. A critical postmodern philosophy of education which synthesized critical and postmodern philosophies of education would emphasize epistemological skepticism, counter-propaganda knowledge construction and social transformation (Aronowitz & Giroux, p.22). In addition, the project contains a literature review of critical theory, postmodern theory and critical postmodern theory on education as well as theory on a critical postmodern philosophy of history education, philosophy of correctional education and ideas for the implementation of the philosophy of education into specific pedagogical and curricular practices. Attached to this manuscript is a PowerPoint presentation focused on stimulating discussion of this philosophy of education.
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Mashasha, Tamsanqa Munyaradzi. "The critical implications of Ubuntu for contemporary management theory." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013116.
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Since the dissolution of apartheid, corporate governance in South Africa has evolved from being a soft mainly ethical issue to a hard knowledge-based technological issue, recognised as pivotal to the success and revitalisation of the country’s capital markets and, ultimately, the prospects of the corporate economy. These high stakes have produced a succession of measures aimed at transforming corporate governance in the economy. As such, South Africa’s corporate managers are consistently faced with the seemingly unassailable obstacle of discerning and implementing technologically progressive and culturally/racially unbiased management strategies/systems. The focus of this thesis is the latter of these two obstacles. Ubuntu acts as the scope via which the issues embedded within the incumbent management strategies/systems are viewed. Ubuntu philosophy embodies a socio-cultural framework that applies to all individuals and institutions throughout the continent. It embodies collectivism and teamwork, creation of synergies and competitive advantages, humanist leadership styles and maturity, consensus in decision-making systems, effective communication, and community-based corporate social responsibility. Ubuntu is pervasive in almost all parts of Southern African continent – it is integrated into all aspects of day-to-day life throughout the region. This thesis reviews and analyses some of the lessons that can be learned through the inception of African management, more specifically Ubuntu management, within South Africa’s corporate sphere. This thesis aims to prove that there exists a need for a new South African corporate management system, one which is able to harmoniously integrate the incumbent, western-orientated management strategies and systems with one of African origins.
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Hall, Tim. "The philosophy of Praxis : a re-evaluation of Georg Lukacs' History and class consciousness." Thesis, University of Essex, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.390992.
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Norton, Glen W. "The gift reciprocated, critical theory and Jean-Luc Godard's philosophy of the image." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape3/PQDD_0019/MQ56195.pdf.
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Mesbah, Ali. "Religion, rationality, and language : a critical analysis of Jürgen Habermas' theory of communicative action." Thesis, McGill University, 2002. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=82933.
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Jurgen Habermas is a second-generation social philosopher of the Frankfurt school, the birthplace of critical theory. He suggests that modernity is a project of substituting rationality for religion. In his analysis, such a succession is the result of a process of social evolution, in which each developmental stage has its basic concepts and modes of understanding subjective, objective, and social worlds. For him, the salient feature of rationality consists of differentiation between various validity claims of truth, truthfulness, and sincerity which are indistinguishable in religious language. The rationalization of religion, hence, progresses in terms of a differentiation between validity claims, a decentration of human understanding, the disenchantment of the world, and the linguistification of the sacred. Habermas proposes a universal pragmatics in which two modes of language use are separated: instrumental-strategic, and communicative. He thinks that the failure of the enlightenment movement to replace religion with reason stems from its preoccupation with instrumental reason and language use, dispensing with communicative rationality; and the remedy lies in communicative rationality.Critically analyzing Habermas' theory of communicative action, this study examines Habermas' basic idea of substituting communicative rationality for religion in the light of his critique of Max Weber and of instrumental reason. Ontological, epistemological, methodological, and conceptual presuppositions in his argument are discussed and evaluated.
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Payrow, Shabani Abdollah. "Discourse ethics, power, and legitimacy, the ideal of democracy and the task of critical theory in Habermas." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp02/NQ57062.pdf.
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Ritchie, Fiona Judith. "The search for a coherent and universal feminist theory of international relations : a critical assessment." Thesis, University of Hull, 2015. http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:12410.
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[From the introduction]; This thesis has three interlocking aims. The first is to examine the extension in recent decades of feminist theory to International Relations. The second is to consider the challenge of some leading non-Western feminist thinkers to key assumptions about International Relations made by Western thinkers. The third objective is to consider the implications of feminist theory for political practice. This is achieved through an examination of the recent attempt by the United States to implement a female emancipation project based on Western universal values, in Afghanistan.
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Hara, Masakazu. "Critical realism in philosophy of science and its relevance to theology." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1989. http://www.tren.com.
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Sanders, Bryan Philip. "Toward a Unified Computer Learning Theory: Critical Techno Constructivism." Digital Commons at Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School, 2019. https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/etd/901.
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Why did we ever purchase computers and place them along the wall or in the corner of a classroom? Why did we ever ask students to work individually at a computer? Why did we ever dictate that students should play computer games or answer questions built from a narrow data set? And why are we still doing this with computers in classrooms today?
This approach has contributed to a systemic problem of low student engagement in course materials and little inclusion of student voice, particularly for traditionally underrepresented students. New transformational tools and pedagogies are needed to nurture students in developing their own ways of thinking, posing problems, collaborating, and solving problems. Of interest, then, is the predominance in today’s classrooms of programmed learning and teaching machines that we dub 21st century learning. We have not yet fully harnessed the transformational power and potential of the technology that schools already possess and that many students are bringing on their own.
This dissertation aims to address what is missing in best practices of technology in the classroom. Herein these pages will be performed a document analysis of cornerstone books written by John Dewey, Paulo Freire, and Seymour Papert. This analysis will be in the form of annotations comprised of the author’s experience as an experienced educator and researcher, and founded in the extant relevant theories of critical theory, technology, and constructivism. The three philosophers were selected for their contributions to constructivism and their urgings to liberate the student from an oppressive system. With a different approach to educational technology, students could be working towards something greater than themselves or the coursework, something with a passionate purpose derived from student inquiry. Instead of working at the computer and having a “one and done” experience, students could be actively transforming their studies and their world. And instead of reifying existing social and racial inequities outside of the classroom through the large computer purchases and the dominant culture attitudes and beliefs found in many software products and databases, we could be examining our practices and programs with a critical lens that allows us to question and seek more inclusive community strategies.
The final chapter is about asking for, pushing for, and dreaming for new kinds of schools, classrooms, software, hardware, and new ways to think about and create new opportunities for students. Mixed reality, sometimes called augmented reality, is likely the anticipated future of computers in the classroom.
We need to, very deeply and purposefully, mix up electronics with people. We are in a new era with new understandings of old issues showing up in old problems. A unified learning theory for computers, computing, and digital learning environments could help to redefine classroom spaces and class time, as well as graduation outcomes. The revolution will indeed be live on the Internet, but it will also be remixed and recreated by students organically and authentically pursuing their own truth.
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Tassone, Giuseppe. "The tale of progress : a study on the idea of progress in Nietzsche, Heidegger, and critical theory." Thesis, University of York, 1998. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/10844/.
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Antalffy, Nikó. "Antimonies of science studies: towards a critical theory of science and technology." Australia : Macquarie University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/27367.
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Thesis (PhD) -- Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy, Dept. of Sociology, 2008.Bibliography: p. 233-248.
Academic vessels: STS and HPS -- SSK : scientism as empirical relativism -- Latour and actor-network-theory -- Tensions and dilemmas in science studies -- Kuhn - paradigm of an uncritical turn -- Critical theory of technology: Andrew Feenberg -- Critical theory and science studies: Jürgen Habermas -- Concluding remarks: normativity and synthesis.
Science Studies is an interdisciplinary area of scholarship comprising two different traditions, the philosophical History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) and the sociological Science and Technology Studies (STS). The elementary tension between the two is based on their differing scholarly values, one based on philosophy, the other on sociology. This tension has been both animating the field of Science Studies and complicating its internal self-understanding. --This thesis sets out to reconstruct the main episodes in the history of Science Studies that have come to formulate competing constructions of the cultural value and meaning of science and technology. It tells a story of various failed efforts to resolve existing antimonies and suggests that the best way to grapple with the complexity of the issues at stake is to work towards establishing a common ground and dialogue between the rival disciplinary formations: HPS and STS. --First I examine two recent theories in Science Studies, Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (SSK) and Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Both of them are found to be inadequate as they share a distorted view of the HPS-STS divide and both try to colonise the sociology of science with the tools of HPS. The genesis of this colonizing impulse is then traced back to the Science Wars which again is underpinned by a lack of clarity about the HPS-STS relationship. This finding further highlights the responsibility of currently fashionable theories such as ANT that have contributed to this deficit of understanding and dialogue.
This same trend is then traced to the work of Thomas Kuhn. He is credited with moderate achievements but recent re-evaluations of his work point to his culpability in closing the field to critical possibilities, stifling the sociological side and giving rise to a distorted view of the HPS-STS relationship as seen in SSK and ANT. Now that the origins of the confused and politically divided state of Science Studies is understood, there is the urgent task of re-establishing a balance and dialogue between the HPS and the STS sides. --I use two important theoretical threads in critical theory of science and technology to bring clarity to the study of these interrelated yet culturally distinct practices. Firstly I look at the solid line of research established by Andrew Feenberg in the critical theory of technology that uses social constructivism to subvert the embedded values in the technical code and hence democratize technology. --Secondly I look at the work of Jürgen Habermas's formidable Critical Theory of science that sheds light on the basic human interests inside science and technology and establishes both the limits and extent to which social constructivism can be used to study them. --Together Feenberg and Habermas show the way forward for Science Studies, a way to establish a common ground that enables close scholarly dialogue between HPS and STS yet understands and maintains the critical difference between the philosophical and the sociological approaches that prevents them from being collapsed into one indistinguishable entity. Together they can restore the HPS-STS balance and through their shared emancipatory vision for society facilitate the bringing of science and technology into a democratic societal oversight, correcting the deficits and shortcomings of recent theories in the field of Science Studies.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
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Hirschler, Christopher. "AN EXAMINATION OF VEGAN'S BELIEFS AND EXPERIENCES USING CRITICAL THEORY AND AUTOETHNOGRAPHY." Cleveland State University / OhioLINK, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1211977933.
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Gottardis, Andreas. "Reason and Utopia : Reconsidering the Concept of Emancipation in Critical Theory." Doctoral thesis, Stockholms universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-108037.
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What does emancipation mean today? In political theory, the idea of emancipation has typically been understood as a process of rationalization involving the promotion of human rights or the historical overcoming of capitalism. However, in contemporary social criticism the earlier antagonism between liberalism and Marxism has largely been replaced by the conflict between Enlightenment thinking and Enlightenment critique. The tension between Enlightenment philosophy and Enlightenment skepticism can be taken as emblematic of the two main tendencies within contemporary critical thought. However, a similar ambivalence can be found in the classical critical theory of the so-called Frankfurt School. Given that we have to distinguish between two types of critical theoretical thought, is it even possible to answer the question about emancipation in an unambiguous way? The overall aim of this study is to examine the meaning of emancipation in contemporary critical thought. More specifically, the principal aim is to demonstrate that Jürgen Habermas’s critical theory can be understood as an attempt to overcome the opposition between the early and the late Frankfurt School in order subsequently to evaluate this attempt and thereby judge whether Habermas’s approach can serve as a key for combining the concepts of emancipation corresponding to these two types of critique. My main objection to Habermas’s reformulation of critical theory is that it is characterized by a lack of emancipatory potential and a lack of critical force. In trying to pave the way for an alternative approach, my strategy for accommodating the tensions between the two models of critical theory is to show that emancipation can be viewed as a process involving three disparate yet interconnected stages: an initial break in the continuity of history; a collective political struggle in order to realize the utopian vision thereby opened up; and, a possible understanding among the participants in a discourse.
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Maklakiewicz, Henry Raymond. "Recognition and reciprocity a critical analysis of personhood in G.W.F. Hegel's Philosophy of right /." Online full text .pdf document, available to Fuller patrons only, 2004.
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Ranjha, Wajid Ali. "Critical theory, modernity and the question of post-colonial identity." Title page, contents and abstract only, 1998. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phr197.pdf.
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Vaki, Fotini. "Marx and Habermas on the paradigm of production : towards a re-interpretation of the normative foundations of critical theory." Thesis, University of Essex, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.369364.
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Hoseason, Alexander. "Between philosophy and social science : the problem of harm in Critical Theory and International Studies." Thesis, Aberystwyth University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2160/2b91f004-8eb7-4f29-b1b3-960669d29119.
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In varying ways, scholars working in the discipline of International Studies have found themselves, often implicitly, wrestling with the question of what should and should not count as harm and the implications of this for wider social life. Core to this tension is the way in which the discipline can be understood as lying between the explanatory concerns of a social science and a normative endeavour concerned with the reduction or mitigation of avoidable harm. This thesis argues that this tension results in an understanding of the problem of harm as a particular problem-field defined by a set of questions that motivate various aspects of theoretical activity. However, it attempts to address the problem of harm as a whole through the lens of Frankfurt School Critical Theory. In doing so, it aims to draw out the implications of the problem of harm for the discipline of International Studies and social science more broadly. The importance accorded to the problem of harm in Critical Theory is the source of considerable problems for an understanding of how social science might operate due to the way that normative concern serves to overwhelm attempts at explanation. This thesis considers Linklater?s sociology of harm conventions a way of rebalancing this equation such that some practical conclusions may be drawn. However, the theoretical underpinnings of this project in the process sociology of Norbert Elias serve to preclude sufficient engagement with normative questions. A reconstruction of the sociology of harm conventions through the ontology of critical realism serves to resituate the production of sociological knowledge with regard to normative concern, and re-theorise the link between them. Following this reconstruction it becomes possible, through Critical Theory, to address the kind of theory that is needed in order to interrogate the problem of harm in International Studies.
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Dwight, James Scutt III. "Hyperpedagogy: Intersections among poststructuralist hypertext theory, critical inquiry, and social justice pedagogies." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/11132.
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Hyperpedagogy seeks to actualize social justice pedagogies and poststructuralist theorizing in digitally enhanced and online learning environments. Hyperpedagogy offers ways to incorporate transactional pedagogies into digital curricula so that learners throughout the United States' pluralistic culture can participate in e-learning. Much of the hyperbole promoting e-learning is founded on social-efficiency pedagogies (i.e. preparing tomorrow's workers for the information-based, new global economy) that tend to homogenize culturally pluralistic learners. The premium placed on a strict adherence to rigid learning systems inculcated within standards-based reform movements typically, moreover, discriminate against historically marginalized learners. Hyperpedagogy seeks to elucidate the closeting of privilege in e-learning so that learners of color, female learners, and homosexual learners can be better represented in the literature than is currently practiced.Ph. D.
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Nichols, Anthony Howard. "Translating the Bible : a critical analysis of E.A. Nida's theory of dynamic equivalence and its impact upon recent Bible translations." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 1996. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/5994/.
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Developments in translation theory have externalized processes used intuitively by translators for centuries. The literature on Bible translation in particular is dominated by Eugene A. Nida and his proteges whose work is informed by a wealth of intercultural experience. This thesis is a critique of the Dynamic Equivalence (DE) theory of translation propounded by Nida, exemplified in the Good News Bible, and promoted in non- Western languages by the United Bible Societies. Section I of the thesis surveys the history of translation, its theory and problems, and describes relevant developments in linguistics. Section II examines Nida's sociolinguistic model and his methods of grammatical and semantic analysis, transfer and restructuring. Section III focuses on the translation of seven texts representing different Bible genres into Septuagint Greek, English and Indonesian versions, noting the distinctive features of DE translations. Section IV takes up and examines key issues that have arisen: the nature of Biblical language, the handling of important Biblical motifs and technical terminology, and the implications of naturalness and explicitness in translation. Nida has provided excellent discussion on most translation problems, as well as useful tools for semantic analysis. However, the DE model is found to be defective for Bible translation. Firstly, it underestimates the intricate relationship of form and meaning in language. Secondly, while evaluation of translation must take account of its purpose and intended audience, 'equivalence' defined in terms of the receptor's reactions is impossible to measure, and blurs the distinction between 'translation’ and ‘communication'. Thirdly, the determinative role given to receptor response constantly jeopardizes the historical and cultural 'otherness' of the Biblical text. Finally the drive for explicitness guarantees that indigenous receptors must approach Scripture through a Western grid and denies them direct access to the Biblical universe of discourse.
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Garlitz, Dustin Bradley. "Philosophy of new jazz : reconstructing Adorno." [Tampa, Fla.] : University of South Florida, 2007. http://purl.fcla.edu/usf/dc/et/SFE0002213.
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Charak, Gregory Scott. "Between soul and precision Ernst Mach's biological empiricism and the social democratic philosophy of science /." Diss., Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC campuses, 2007. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3274584.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2007.Title from first page of PDF file (viewed October 2, 2007). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 338-345).
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Curry, Tommy J. "Cast Upon The Shadows: Essays Toward The Culturalogic Turn In Critical Race Theory." OpenSIUC, 2009. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/59.
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Unlike many Black-specific disciplines in the academy (Black psychology, Black history, etc), Black philosophy never completely forged a unique conceptual framework separate from American and Continental intellectual traditions. Instead the field has continued to define its validity by the extent that Black authors extend the thought of white philosophers towards race. This epistemic convergence, or the extent to which Black theory converges with established white philosophical traditions, and hence white racial sensibilities, continues to misguide many of the current philosophical systems of Africana thought. Because this practice is so dominate, it has made current scholarship in African American and Africana thought derelict, in the sense that all investigations into Blackness are normatively, hence ideologically driven, and not culturally relevant to the actual lives of Africana people. Because whites are able to connect their work in traditional philosophy to studies of race under the misnomer of "critical race theory," these white associations with Black philosophy have given the illusion that integration and multicultural exchanges in Africana philosophy contribute to the restructuring of the discipline of philosophy and psychical changes in whites. Unfortunately this is merely wishful thinking that fails to consider the empirical research that confirms the undeniable failure of integration. This inability by Blacks to accept and explore racism without the illusion of racial coexistence in America makes current approaches to Black philosophy irrelevant to the present day struggles that Blacks find themselves burdened by in the American context. This dissertation however argues that the acceptance of the racial realist perspective, which accepts the permanence of racism, allows Blacks to "conceptually disengage" the triumphalism of the integrationist myth and explore the world without the illusion of anthropological parity. This lacuna in the European narration of liberal democracy's vision of equality spurs the culturalogical turn in Critical Race Theory, and introduces the philosophical insights of Derrick Bell and Paul Robeson as guiding voices towards the silencing of the idealist trends in contemporary studies of racism.
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Özdoyran, Güven [Verfasser]. "An Inquiry into the nature of aesthetic theory in its relation to theory of knowledge in Kant's critical philosophy / Güven ÖZDOYRAN." Frankfurt a.M. : Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften, 2020. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:101:1-2020050309180360347218.
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ÖZDOYRAN, Güven [Verfasser]. "An Inquiry into the nature of aesthetic theory in its relation to theory of knowledge in Kant's critical philosophy / Güven ÖZDOYRAN." Frankfurt a.M. : Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften, 2020. http://d-nb.info/1209451433/34.
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Stirk, P. M. R. "The origin and development of critical theory in the work of Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno and Herbert Marcuse." Thesis, University of Exeter, 1987. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.376406.
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Gabbitas, Bruce William. "Critical Thinking and Analyzing Assumptions in Instructional Technology." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2009. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/1883.
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In the field of instructional technology critical thinking is valued both as a practice for those in the field and as a skill or habit to teach and measure. However, traditional conceptions of critical thinking are limited in their usefulness and restricted to particular kinds of thinking and reasoning. Conceptions of critical thinking in instructional technology are dominated by these traditional perspectives. Missing is a substantive dialogue on the nature of critical thinking. despite the fact that such dialogue is a part of critical thinking scholarship outside of instructional technology. One of the primary limitations of traditional critical thinking is the failure to emphasize the recognition and analysis of underlying assumptions. Assumptions underlie every theory and practice in any field of discipline. Critical thinking itself cannot be practiced without the influence of assumptions, both acknowledged and implicit. In order for a critical thinking approach to facilitate analysis of assumptions it must be sensitive to the characteristics of assumptions and the roles assumptions play in everyday life. For this thesis, I propose a model of critical thinking that involves principles and practices that aid the professional in recognizing and evaluating assumptions, revising assumptions when needed, and adapting practices to align with assumptions. Such critical thinking in instructional technology has the potential to improve the practice of current theories, advance theories in the future, and guide practitioners in decision-making.
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Chervin, Michael I. "Marcuse's critical theory as related to social education : a critical examination towards the development of a philosophical foundation of social education adequate to the North American context." Thesis, McGill University, 1988. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=61701.
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Hammond, David. "The common play of ironic understanding : a critical study of Kieran Egan's theory of educational development." Thesis, McGill University, 1990. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=59648.
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My thesis centers on a critical analysis of the concept of the "educated person" in Kieran Egan's theory of educational development. Egan presupposes that the erudite human being in western societies is ideally a sophisticated ironic thinker, that is, a person who possesses the fullest range of sense making capacities known to our culture; and furthermore, a person who tactfully and innovatively applies these capacities in everyday life.My thesis attempts a "thick" description of Egan's notion of ironic understanding in light of the writings of Martin Buber on dialogue, Hannah Arendt on human thinking, Hans Georg Gadamer on the serious playfulness of the interpretative act, Richard Rorty on private irony and liberal democracy, and finally, Michael Oakeshott on the educational conversation. It suggests that these theoretical notions of the fully human life may be practically realized in the educated ironist characterized by Egan in his various writings.
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Jensen, Timothy Trier. "Moving the Common Sensorium: A Rhetoric of Social Movements and Path&emacr." The Ohio State University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1374079125.
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Martinson, Mattias. "Frames : Social Philosophy and Hermeneutics as Focal Points for Theology-Related Readings of Theodor W. Adorno's Critical Theory." Licentiate thesis, Uppsala University, Department of Theology, 1999. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-36241.
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Harh, Amal Kumar. "The Means of knowing a negative fact : a critical study on the theory of Anupalabdhi in Indian philosophy." Thesis, University of North Bengal, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/84.
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Reglitz, Merten. "The Importance of Morally Relevant Facts for a Plausible Theory of Global Justice : A Critical Exploration." Thesis, Linköping University, Centre for Applied Ethics, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-9060.
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This thesis explores the possibility of formulating an intermediate approach towards global justice. The desired approach should be intermediate in the sense that it is located in the normative space between the two rather exterme philosophical positions of cosmopolitanism and liberal nationalism for reasons explained in the thesis. As it turns out in the argumentation within this thesis it is an appropriate identification of the facts that can be thought morally relevant in the context of global justice which is of crucial importance for achieving this task. This is the case since such morally relevant facts, as will be shown, are decisive not only for making definite sense of the ideals at stake with regard to the issues of global inequality and absolute poverty. They furthermore also are essential for determining normatively appropriate and empirically effective obligations for working towards a more just world.
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van, Ingen Michiel. "Rethinking conflict studies : towards a critical realist approach." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2014. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/16202.
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The study of intra-state conflict has increased exponentially during the post-Cold War period. This has given rise to a variety of competing approaches, which have (i) adopted differing methodological and social theoretical orientations, and (ii) produced contradictory accounts of the causes and nature of violent conflict. This project intervenes in the debates which have resulted from this situation, and develops a critical realist approach to conflict studies. In doing so it rethinks the discipline from the philosophical ground up, by extending the ontological and epistemological insights which are provided by critical realism into more concrete reflections about methodological and social theoretical issues. In addition to engaging in reflection about philosophical, methodological, and social theoretical issues, however, the project also incorporates the insights of two largely neglected literatures into conflict studies. These are, first, the insights of the gender-studies literature, and second, the insights of decolonial/postcolonial forms of thought. It claims that the discipline is strengthened by incorporating the insights of these literatures, and that the critical realist framework provides us with the philosophical basis which is required in order to do so.