Critical Theory’s distinctiveness lies in refusing to surrender truth and justice questions

Evidence

What must, of course, also be acknowledged is that Critical Theory has served for some in the new context as a bulwark against what has seemed the most nihilistic, relativistic and counter-Enlightenment implications of certain postmodern theories. Adorno’s anticipatory refusal of postmodernism (to which Lyotard alludes in the remarks cited above) is derived from his stubborn reluctance to give up on the questions of social justice and truth (understood ultimately as “the true society”), or forego any hope for finding a political means to realize them. Many current exponents of Critical Theory, such as the editors of the new journal Constellations, Seyla Benhahib and Andrew Arato, follow Habermas in tenaciously maintaining the viability of the project of modernity as the way to achieve those goals, stripped, to be sure, of its redemptive or utopian implications. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 27

Categorization

• XREF: Directly anticipates Habermas’s later debate with postmodernism and the theme of Critical Theory as defender of modernity’s unfinished project. — connects to: Critical Theory rejected falsifiability because social truths imply possible alternatives to present order — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 302; Critical theory that identifies reason with domination cannot justify its own critique — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 380; Critical theory’s truth is validated by insight, not by majority or victory — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 640 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Critical theory’s truth is validated by insight, not by majority or victory #corroborates (0.85) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 640
• Critical Theory grounds truth claims in possible futures rather than present facts #expands (0.82) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 302
• Critical Theory rejected falsifiability because social truths imply possible alternatives to present order #expands (0.78) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 302
• Theory is contested conjunctural knowledge, not will to truth #contradicts (0.78)
• Critical theory that identifies reason with domination cannot justify its own critique #qualifies (0.75) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 380