Critique and Reconstruction: The Civilization Theory of the Frankfurt School

Author: Wang Fengcai
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-16
Features: Modernization seems to be the trend of the times and the direction of people's hearts. However, examining the Frankfurt School from the perspective of civilization theory is a distinctive feature of this work: The author defines the meaning of civilization theory in his own understanding and traces the trajectory of the Frankfurt School's intellectual development along the line of "critique and reconstruction."—Yu Wujin
This work revolves around the theme of "critique and reconstruction" and conducts a comparative systematic study of the Frankfurt School's civilization theory. By taking civilization theory as an entry point to examine the Frankfurt School, this book opens up new perspectives for research on the Frankfurt School. It not only clearly defines the connotation and types of civilization theory but also, based on constructing a framework system for the Frankfurt School's civilization theory, provides a reasonable positioning for it. Additionally, it offers differing views on some misunderstandings of the Frankfurt School in academia and proposes new insights into the future direction of human civilization.—Chen Xueming
This is a scholarly work that systematically studies the civilization theory of the Frankfurt School, with at least four innovations: First, based on defining the connotation of civilization theory, it divides it into pessimistic and optimistic types of civilization theory, tracing the origin of pessimistic civilization theory back to ancient Greek mythology. Second, by studying the Frankfurt School from the perspective of civilization theory, it not only finds a new entry point for research on the Frankfurt School but also opens up a new field for its study. Third, taking "critique and reconstruction" as the theme, it constructs a framework system for the civilization theory of the Frankfurt School for the first time, offers a realistic evaluation of it, positions it as pessimistic civilization theory, and proposes some relatively important new insights. Fourth, it emphasizes that "ecological civilization is the future direction of civilization development, and harmonious development is the necessary path to achieving ecological civilization."—Fu Youde