ULUSLARARASI İLİŞKİLER TEORİLERİ II

Robert Cox defines critical theory in the context of his famous landmark distinction between problemsolving theories and critical theories. According to Cox, problem-solving theories are preoccupied with maintaining social power relationships and the reproduction of the existing system, attempting to ensure that existing relationships and institutions work smoothly. The correct anwer is D.

Andrew Linklater, another well-known theorist in international relations, approaches to critical theory as a post-Marxist theory that continues to evolve beyond the paradigm of production to a commitment to dialogic communities that are deeply sensitive about all forms of inclusion and exclusion, domestic, transnational, and international. The correct answer is B.

It is not the Critical Theory but it is the postmodern approach which is more likely to be associated with rejection of comprehensive, universal theory. Therefore the correct answer which has the incorrect statement is D.

First generation of critical theorists were Max Horkheimer (1895-1973), Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Walter Benjamin, Friedrich Pollock, Leo Lowenthal, and Eric Fromm. In the 1970s, a second generation began with Jürgen Habermas. The correct answer is C.

The Institute for Social Research (Institut für Sozialforschung) was the creation of Felix Weil, who was able to use money from his father’s grain business to finance the Institute. The correct answer is E.

In The Theory of Communicative Action, Habermas provided a model for social complexities and action coordination based upon the original interpretation of classical social theorists, as well as the philosophy of John L. Austin and John Searle’s “speech acts” theory. The correct answer is E.

Positivist epistemology is supported by the claims of a neutral, non-normative, and value-free production of knowledge. The correct answer is A.

Praxeology is the study of aspects of human action, especially political action and ethics. It is concerned with the conceptual analysis and logical implications of preference, choice, means, and so forth. The correct answer is B.

Cox challenges the idea that “truth” is absolute, as in realism’s assertion that there is a timeless logic to international relations, or liberalism’s assertion that the pursuit of global capitalism is positive. Instead, Robert Cox argues that theory is always for someone and for some purpose. The correct answer is A.

Linklater’s critical project aims at reconstructing cosmopolitanism, drawing not from some abstract or utopian moral principles but from non-instrumental action and ideal speech. The correct answer is C.

As a pure critique, critical theory is usually regarded as a critique of modernity and by extension, a critique of the developments and institutions associated with modern society. It can also be a critique of particular schools of thought within social sciences, rejecting their domination. More recently, a large part of critical theory has been the critique of art and culture, in particular the consumer culture, advertising, the media, and other forms of popular culture.

The idea of both “suffering” and “happiness” takes place in Horkheimer’s works. Horkheimer’s thoughts on suffering owe a great deal to Marx’s views on the capitalist system that enslaves people. On the other hand, the notion that human beings have an inner drive to overcome suffering is taken from the early libido theory of Sigmung Freud, an Austrian neurologist who developed psychoanalysis, as well as Erich Fromm, a German social psychologist and psychoanalyst, who was associated with the Frankfurt School in the 1930s.

Critical theory is not only an academic approach but also an emancipatory thought committed to the formation of a more equal and just world. It seeks to explain the reasons why the realization of this goal is difficult to achieve. Therefore, what is crucial is not only the social explanation but also politically motivated action to achieve an alternative set of social relations based on justice and equality. For emancipatory social change, Horkheimer believes that there are some forces of resistance left within humans and that the spirit of humanity is still alive, if not in the individual as a member of social groups, at least in the individual as far as he or she is left alone. Horkheimer is certainly aware of the structural constraints, but he does suggest that it is possible to engage in a kind of non-conformism at least (without much of a description of what it would be like), which comes through the spontaneity of the individual subject.

Critical theory is also deeply concerned with the fate of modernity. It has offered systematic and comprehensive theories of the trajectory of modernity, combined with critical diagnoses of some of the latter’s limitations, pathologies and destructive effects, while providing defenses of some of its progressive elements.

The birth of critical theory is greatly inspired by Karl Marx’s theoretical formulation of the relationship between economic base and ideological superstructure. The approach of Marx tends to focus on how power and domination operate, in particular, in the realm of the superstructure.

Speech act is a theory on the actual communicative function of language, attempting to find out the extent to which impartial interaction is possible between speakers. The theory was particularly developed by John L. Austin and John Searle, who argued that the order of words has primary meaning and clearly convey the messages of the speaker.

The first step of critical theory is to have an understanding of itself, to be aware of social, cultural, and political issues through the engagement in self-reflexive reasoning. From a critical standpoint, the theorist must acknowledge that theory is itself a social construction that must reflect upon itself and take a normative position on the world. This self-reflexive dimension is what allegedly enables critical theory to produce knowledge without reproducing and reinforcing the inequities of the status quo.

The critique of domination and exploitation constitutes critical theory’s ontological dimension. Marx treated Kant’s fundamental philosophical questions about human beings and their knowledge, activities, and hopes in the form of a critical political economy. Marx’s reformulation of Kant’s question was his categorical imperative that is the critique of domination and exploitation.

Praxeology is the study of aspects of human action, especially political action and ethics. It is concerned with the conceptual analysis and logical implications of preference, choice, means, and so forth.

There were two particular scholars who played a crucial role in connecting critical theory to international relations by influencing two other significant scholars in the area. The first was Antonio Gramsci, who influenced Robert Cox, and the second was Jürgen Habermas from the Frankfurt School, who influenced Andrew Linklater.

Cultural hegemony is basically the dominant ideology of the society that reflects the beliefs and interests of the ruling class. More specifically, the term refers to the ability of a group of people to hold power over social institutions, and thus, to strongly influence the values, norms, and worldview of the rest of society. According to Gramsci, cultural hegemony functions by achieving the consent of the masses to abide social norms and the rules of law by framing the worldview of the ruling class. It is most strongly manifested when those ruled by the dominant group come to believe that the economic and social conditions are natural and inevitable, rather than created by people, with a vested interest in a particular capitalist order.