Critical Theory’s legitimate authority is reason itself, dissolving the state distinction

Evidence

There was therefore a type of political authority that might be called legitimate: the authority of reason. It might be noted in passing that insofar as Fromm agreed with this notion, John Schaar’s critique of his work, entitled Escape from Authority, is misnamed. In an ideal political system, the individual would obey his government because it would truly represent his interests. In fact, the distinction between governed and government would tend to disappear, thereby realizing Marx’s withering away of the state as an external apparatus to coerce men. The perfect democracy, or isonomy, which Rousseau among others had espoused, would thus be realized when men followed their own reason. In his more utopian moments Horkheimer went so far as to question all political power. The question of what one should do with power, he wrote during the war, “presupposes the condition which is supposed to disappear: the power of disposition over alienated labor.” — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 397

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the Rousseauian isonomy ideal and Marx’s abol tion of the state, both central to continental political philosophy the reader already knows. — connects to: Critical theory’s truth is validated by insight, not by majority or victory — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 640; Objectivist truth served as philosophy’s safeguard against the intoxication of power — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2943; Critical Theory faced a double dilemma needing two independent yardsticks. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2146

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
• Objectivist truth served as philosophy’s safeguard against the intoxication of power #corroborates (0.80) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2943