From analytic pragmatism to historical materialism
Frankfurt school critical theory and the Quine‐Duhem thesis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21603307 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jennifer Mcnulty (0000-0002-5094-5577, Political Economy Project & Department of Philosophy Dartmouth College Hanover New Hampshire USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 576-599 |
| Publication date | 2023-09-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Philosophy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0966-8373 • E-ISSN: 1468-0378 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/ejop.12737 |
| OpenAlex | W3215886602 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 21 |
My aim in this paper is to explore an affinity between early critical theory and analytical philosophy. The affinity is in a fairly unexpected area: philosophy of science. I argue that early critical theory embraces a view of science which is a natural if somewhat unfamiliar extension of the pragmatist one defended by Quine. In particular, I argue that Horkheimer has a version of the Quine‐Duhem thesis (“underdetermination of theory choice by the evidence”). How do the Frankfurt and analytical versions of the underdetermination thesis differ? Quine and others have taken the thesis to motivate a form of pragmatism. What this means is that it is certain interests that ultimately determine the choice of theory: chief among them, an interest in simplicity of our theories. However, the Critical Theorists offer us a distinctly historical materialist version of the underdetermination thesis, in which it is the imperatives of the prevailing mode of production, for example, capitalism, which are decisive. The result is an unfamiliar Marxist version of an otherwise familiar thesis from the analytic tradition
Analytic philosophy · Contemporary philosophy · Empiricism · Epistemology · Marxist philosophy · Materialism · Philosophy of science · Pragmatism · Quine · Received view of theories · Underdetermination · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism · Political Philosophy and Ethics
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| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |