Theory should be conjunctural knowledge aimed at worldly intervention, not truth

Evidence

I come back to theory and politics, the politics of theory. Not theory as the will to truth, but theory as a set of contested, localized, conjunctural knowledges, which have to be debated in a dialogical way. But also as a practice which always thinks about its intervention in a world in which it would make some difference, in which it would have some effect. Finally, a practice which understands the need for intellectual modesty. I do think there is all the difference in the world between understanding the politics of intellectual work and substituting intellectual work for politics. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 259

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines what theory is for Hall: contested, localized, conjunctural knowledges to be dialogically debated, not truth-seeking.
• DEEPTHINKING: The closing distinction between understanding the politics of intellectual work and substituting it for politics is a dense, provocation-laden aphorism about intellectual responsibility.
• XREF: connects to: Free thought must refuse to let organized knowledge prescribe its rules. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 564