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Beyond the ‘French Fries and the Frankfurter’

An agenda for critical theory

Marquette University, Department of Philosophy, Milwaukee, WI, USA

Debates between Habermas and the poststructuralists - specifically, Derrida, Foucault and Lyotard - over the nature of critiques of Enlightenment rationality and modernity are investigated in order to argue for an agenda for critical theory beyond the ‘French Fries and the Frankfurter’.¹ Part I interrogates key elements of Habermas’ theory of communicative rationality in his reconstruction of Enlightenment modernity and his critique of the poststructuralists. This orients the discussion toward an evaluation of Habermas’ neo-Kantianism, theory of language (discourse ethics), and the ‘critique’ he employs in his bid to defend and complete the project of modernity.

Part II delineates some common ground between Habermas and the post-structuralists and argues for the value of maintaining a fruitful tension among their critiques of Enlightenment modernity. Points of unproductive tension among their critiques are taken up in light of the above value. These generally pertain to commitment to neo-Kantian approaches to critique, linguistic relativism and philosophical scepticism. The conclusion indicates that there are features of the constructive tension in the postmodernism debates which are integrally related to Marx’s work. Indeed, the debates’ contemporary perspectives upon and commitment to critical-practical engagement with ideological features of the Enlightenment legacy and capitalism can be revitalized by the contributions of Marx’s materialist critique.

Key Words: critical theory • Derrida • Enlightenment modernity • Foucault • Habermas • Lyotard • Marx • postmodernism debates

Philosophy & Social Criticism, Vol. 26, No. 2, 99-129 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/019145370002600205


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