Asger Sørensen
Biographic Data
| ID | 4586076 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Asger Sørensen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Asger |
| FAMILY NAME | Sørensen |
| SIGNATURE | SORENSEN A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Aarhus University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5671-9060 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Alienation Reconsidered
Fortunately, the challenge of alienation is now again taken seriously in intellectual discussions. Already years ago, Axel Honneth made the reflection on alienation a defining issue for social philosophy per se, and as the prime example of social philosophy, he brought forth Critical Theory. Within this horizon, recently two conceptions of alienation have been proposed by Rahel Jeaggi and Hartmut Rosa, and the present article takes issue with bot…
Ukraine, ideology, and arms
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has challenged the ideals of peace that I and many other left-wing critical intellectuals hold dear. By the end of the 18th century, Immanuel Kant argued that the realist law of peoples and the idea of just war should be superseded by the idea of perpetual peace, and, fortunately, the principled opposition to war was institutionalized in the United Nations in the 20th century. However, when the aggressor has alread…
Ohne Kapitalismuskritik keine Sozialdemokratie
Im Juni 2009 wurde nach einer Demonstration gegen Studiengebühren das Aulagebäude der Universität Göttingen besetzt und zu später Stunde mehrere der dort stehenden Büsten beschädigt: Mit Farbe besprüht, mit Edding bekritzelt und vom Sockel aus dem
Critical theory, immanent critique and neo-liberalism. Reply to critique raised in Copenhagen
Being critical does not come easy, not even within Critical Theory. In this article I respond to criticism of my book from 2019, Capitalism, Alienation and Critique, arguing that contemporary Critical Theory has something to learn from the founding fathers. Firstly, for Adorno immanent critique has metaphysical implications beyond Honneth’s critique of bourgeois society as inconsistent in terms of its professed ideals. Secondly, immanent critique…
Aliénation, entfremdung - and alienation. Hegel’s solidary displacement of Diderot
Hegel?s Phenomenology of Spirit put alienation high on the philosophical agenda, as was readily recognized by Marx. Relatively well-known is also that Hegel?s concept of alienation was inspired by Goethe?s translation of Diderot?s dialogue Rameau?s Nephew, but the details and the conceptual implications of these details typically escape scholarly attention. Recognizing the basic idea of alienation as not-belonging to or being deprived of somethin…
Classical critical theory, epistemological dialectics and general economy. Reply to criticism raised in Belgrade and Shanghai
In my response, I initially defend my preference for classical Critical Theory, emphasizing its continued relevance in capitalist modernity, stressing that the epistemological approach does not imply dogmatism with regards to scientific theory or Historical Materialism, just as it does not imply closure with regards to political democracy. When it comes to the dialectics of the classics, I also defend an epistemological approach, arguing that the…
Pour un élargissement de l’éducation à la citoyenneté démocratique à travers la Bildung
The problem that I am addressing is the lack of social cohesion in contemporary democratic countries confronted with social and environmental challenges, in particular the lack of interest of citizenship education. As a basic conceptual framework, I dismiss political liberalism in the narrow Rawlsian sense and employ social-democratic republicanism, asserting with Durkheim that only by being considered a valuable comprehensive doctrine, i.e. a co…
Capitalism, Alienation and Critique
In Capitalism, Alienation and Critique Asger Sørensen offers a wide-ranging argument for the classical Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School, thus endorsing the dialectical approach of the original founders (Horkheimer, Adorno, Marcuse) and criticizing suggested revisions of later generations (Habermas, Honneth). Being situated within the horizon of the late 20th century Cultural Marxism, the main issue is the critique of capitalism, emphasizin…
The privilege of participation
Cosmopolitanism – Not a ‘major ideology’, but still an ideology
Today the idea of cosmopolitanism has become widely accepted as an appropriate answer to what we now call globalization. A key reference is Kant who argues for a Recht of the world citizen, and this is normally understood as a cosmopolitan law. Apparently Kant lets the law of the world citizen be limited to a right to visit, but somehow his peace project must imply something more than just this very modest claim. Following a hint from Kant himsel…
From critique of ideology to politics
Considering the German idea of Bildung, I argue that it is a central concern of Habermas. First, he criticized the idea of being educated as a sign of innate abilities, emphasizing instead the significance of the social conditions of the upbringing. Subsequently, inspired by Adorno, he performed an analysis of Bildung, based on critique of ideology, in The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. The basic critique is that Bildung is too t…
On a universal scale
This article analyses the general economy of Georges Bataille (1897–1962) in relation to political economy. In the first section I present a critical perspective on economy that is necessary in order to appreciate Bataille’s conception of general economy, which is presented in the second section. The general economy is first considered in a macro-perspective, which comprises the whole of the universe, second in a micro-perspective, where the subj…
The inner experience of living matter
The dialectical aspect in the work of Georges Bataille is often neglected. At the suggestion of Foucault and Derrida, Bataille is most often even taken to be a non-dialectical thinker. But Bataille worked intensely with Hegel's ideas, his thought was expressed in Hegelian terms, and both his epistemology and his ontology can be considered a determinate negation of Hegel's position in the Phenomenology. This is shown, first, by analysing Bataille'…
On a universal scale
This article analyses the general economy of Georges Bataille (1897–1962) in relation to political economy. In the first section I present a critical perspective on economy that is necessary in order to appreciate Bataille’s conception of general economy, which is presented in the second section. The general economy is first considered in a macro-perspective, which comprises the whole of the universe, second in a micro-perspective, where the subj…
Cosmopolitanism – Not a ‘major ideology’, but still an ideology
Today the idea of cosmopolitanism has become widely accepted as an appropriate answer to what we now call globalization. A key reference is Kant who argues for a Recht of the world citizen, and this is normally understood as a cosmopolitan law. Apparently Kant lets the law of the world citizen be limited to a right to visit, but somehow his peace project must imply something more than just this very modest claim. Following a hint from Kant himsel…
From critique of ideology to politics
Considering the German idea of Bildung, I argue that it is a central concern of Habermas. First, he criticized the idea of being educated as a sign of innate abilities, emphasizing instead the significance of the social conditions of the upbringing. Subsequently, inspired by Adorno, he performed an analysis of Bildung, based on critique of ideology, in The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. The basic critique is that Bildung is too t…
Classical critical theory, epistemological dialectics and general economy. Reply to criticism raised in Belgrade and Shanghai
In my response, I initially defend my preference for classical Critical Theory, emphasizing its continued relevance in capitalist modernity, stressing that the epistemological approach does not imply dogmatism with regards to scientific theory or Historical Materialism, just as it does not imply closure with regards to political democracy. When it comes to the dialectics of the classics, I also defend an epistemological approach, arguing that the…
The inner experience of living matter
The dialectical aspect in the work of Georges Bataille is often neglected. At the suggestion of Foucault and Derrida, Bataille is most often even taken to be a non-dialectical thinker. But Bataille worked intensely with Hegel's ideas, his thought was expressed in Hegelian terms, and both his epistemology and his ontology can be considered a determinate negation of Hegel's position in the Phenomenology. This is shown, first, by analysing Bataille'…
The inner experience of living matter
The dialectical aspect in the work of Georges Bataille is often neglected. At the suggestion of Foucault and Derrida, Bataille is most often even taken to be a non-dialectical thinker. But Bataille worked intensely with Hegel's ideas, his thought was expressed in Hegelian terms, and both his epistemology and his ontology can be considered a determinate negation of Hegel's position in the Phenomenology. This is shown, first, by analysing Bataille'…
On a universal scale
This article analyses the general economy of Georges Bataille (1897–1962) in relation to political economy. In the first section I present a critical perspective on economy that is necessary in order to appreciate Bataille’s conception of general economy, which is presented in the second section. The general economy is first considered in a macro-perspective, which comprises the whole of the universe, second in a micro-perspective, where the subj…
From critique of ideology to politics
Considering the German idea of Bildung, I argue that it is a central concern of Habermas. First, he criticized the idea of being educated as a sign of innate abilities, emphasizing instead the significance of the social conditions of the upbringing. Subsequently, inspired by Adorno, he performed an analysis of Bildung, based on critique of ideology, in The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. The basic critique is that Bildung is too t…
Cosmopolitanism – Not a ‘major ideology’, but still an ideology
Today the idea of cosmopolitanism has become widely accepted as an appropriate answer to what we now call globalization. A key reference is Kant who argues for a Recht of the world citizen, and this is normally understood as a cosmopolitan law. Apparently Kant lets the law of the world citizen be limited to a right to visit, but somehow his peace project must imply something more than just this very modest claim. Following a hint from Kant himsel…
The privilege of participation
Capitalism, Alienation and Critique
In Capitalism, Alienation and Critique Asger Sørensen offers a wide-ranging argument for the classical Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School, thus endorsing the dialectical approach of the original founders (Horkheimer, Adorno, Marcuse) and criticizing suggested revisions of later generations (Habermas, Honneth). Being situated within the horizon of the late 20th century Cultural Marxism, the main issue is the critique of capitalism, emphasizin…
Pour un élargissement de l’éducation à la citoyenneté démocratique à travers la Bildung
The problem that I am addressing is the lack of social cohesion in contemporary democratic countries confronted with social and environmental challenges, in particular the lack of interest of citizenship education. As a basic conceptual framework, I dismiss political liberalism in the narrow Rawlsian sense and employ social-democratic republicanism, asserting with Durkheim that only by being considered a valuable comprehensive doctrine, i.e. a co…
Aliénation, entfremdung - and alienation. Hegel’s solidary displacement of Diderot
Hegel?s Phenomenology of Spirit put alienation high on the philosophical agenda, as was readily recognized by Marx. Relatively well-known is also that Hegel?s concept of alienation was inspired by Goethe?s translation of Diderot?s dialogue Rameau?s Nephew, but the details and the conceptual implications of these details typically escape scholarly attention. Recognizing the basic idea of alienation as not-belonging to or being deprived of somethin…
Classical critical theory, epistemological dialectics and general economy. Reply to criticism raised in Belgrade and Shanghai
In my response, I initially defend my preference for classical Critical Theory, emphasizing its continued relevance in capitalist modernity, stressing that the epistemological approach does not imply dogmatism with regards to scientific theory or Historical Materialism, just as it does not imply closure with regards to political democracy. When it comes to the dialectics of the classics, I also defend an epistemological approach, arguing that the…
Ohne Kapitalismuskritik keine Sozialdemokratie
Im Juni 2009 wurde nach einer Demonstration gegen Studiengebühren das Aulagebäude der Universität Göttingen besetzt und zu später Stunde mehrere der dort stehenden Büsten beschädigt: Mit Farbe besprüht, mit Edding bekritzelt und vom Sockel aus dem
Critical theory, immanent critique and neo-liberalism. Reply to critique raised in Copenhagen
Being critical does not come easy, not even within Critical Theory. In this article I respond to criticism of my book from 2019, Capitalism, Alienation and Critique, arguing that contemporary Critical Theory has something to learn from the founding fathers. Firstly, for Adorno immanent critique has metaphysical implications beyond Honneth’s critique of bourgeois society as inconsistent in terms of its professed ideals. Secondly, immanent critique…
Ukraine, ideology, and arms
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has challenged the ideals of peace that I and many other left-wing critical intellectuals hold dear. By the end of the 18th century, Immanuel Kant argued that the realist law of peoples and the idea of just war should be superseded by the idea of perpetual peace, and, fortunately, the principled opposition to war was institutionalized in the United Nations in the 20th century. However, when the aggressor has alread…
Alienation Reconsidered
Fortunately, the challenge of alienation is now again taken seriously in intellectual discussions. Already years ago, Axel Honneth made the reflection on alienation a defining issue for social philosophy per se, and as the prime example of social philosophy, he brought forth Critical Theory. Within this horizon, recently two conceptions of alienation have been proposed by Rahel Jeaggi and Hartmut Rosa, and the present article takes issue with bot…
Law (11 works) · Political science (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Philosophy (10 works) · Epistemology (8 works) · Law (8 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Politics (7 works) · Critical Theory and Philosophy (5 works) · Ideology (5 works)