critical theory

English

Alternative forms

• Critical Theory

Etymology

Calque of German kritische Theorie, first defined by Max Horkheimer in his 1937 essay “Traditional and Critical Theory”.

Noun

critical theory (uncountable)

1. The examination and critique of society and literature, drawing from knowledge across social science and the humanities; (in particular) the original ideas developed by the Frankfurt School.
   • 2000, Carl Howard Freedman, Critical Theory and Science Fiction, Wesleyan University Press, →ISBN, page xvi:

     I define critical theory as something broader than Critical Theory in the Frankfurt School usage but not unrelated to it. I use the term to designate the traditions of dialectical and self-reflective thought initiated during the historical moment of Kant and Hegel.

   • 2018 September 23, Eliot A. Cohen, “The Crisis of the American Elites”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     […] ; if you do not know, or care to know, much about critical theory, the writings of Butler are academic in the unflattering sense of that term. But in their world, they are, if not royalty, lords of the realm.

Meronyms

• critical legal studies, critical legal theory
• queer theory
• technocriticism
• thing theory

Derived terms

• critical race theory
• critical theorist

Translations

examination and critique of society and literature

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 批判理論／批判理论 (pīpàn lǐlùn)

• Finnish: kriittinen teoria
• German: kritische Theorie f
• Irish: teoiric na critice f
• Swedish: kritisk teori c