Abstract
This chapter begins with a brief reconstruction of Lukács’ theory of reification, then goes on to consider the theory’s critical reception by Theodor W. Adorno, Jürgen Habermas and Axel Honneth. The author focuses on the critical reservations of these main representatives of the three generations of critical theory on Lukács’ theory, while also briefly referring to their attempts to preserve its true core. The chapter culminates in a broad assessment of the Frankfurt School’s critique of the theory and an attempt to determine the lead that a contemporary update should take.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Lukács 2002: xliii. In some cases I have silently altered the English translation of quotes from the works of Lukács, Adorno, Habermas and Honneth.
- 2.
This term is already used in the introductory passage of Lukács’ reification essay (Lukács 2002: 83). Unfortunately, the English translation often overlooks the central importance of this concept and renders it invisible by circumlocutions.
- 3.
The English translation does not in all cases retain the specific meaning of the uncommon German word “struktiv”. Lukács used it to denote the dynamic character of a formative or constitutive factor. Cf. Eiden-Offe 2011: 69.
- 4.
Theodor W. Adorno to Lucien Goldmann, October 15, 1963, Theodor W. Adorno Archive, BR 484/42 (quoted in Braunstein and Duckheim 2015: 33).
- 5.
Theodor W. Adorno Archive, Vo 8831-8832 (quoted in Braunstein 2011, 41).
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
Honneth speaks about a “transformation of the Dialectic of Enlightenment in light of the theory of communication” (Honneth 1991: 278).
- 9.
This is the same critique critical theorists of the younger generation continue to embrace. Cf. for example, Stahl 2012: 303–304.
- 10.
Honneth 2008: 56. The word does not appear in the English translation.
Bibliography
Adorno, Theodor W. 1973. Negative dialectics. Trans. E.B. Ashton. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
———. 1980. Reconciliation under duress. In Ernst Bloch, Georg Lukács et al., Aesthetics and Politics. Afterword by F. Jameson. London: Verso.
———. 2011. Philosophie und Soziologie (1960). In Nachgelassene Schriften, vol. IV.6, ed. Dirk Braunstein. Berlin: Suhrkamp.
Anderson, Perry. 1979. Considerations on western Marxism. London: Verso.
Berger, Johannes. 1986. Die Versprachlichung des Sakralen und die Entsprachlichung der Ökonomie. In Kommunikatives Handeln. Beiträge zu Jürgen Habermas’ “Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns”, ed. Axel Honneth, and Hans Joas. Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp.
Braunstein, Dirk. 2011. Adornos Kritik der politischen Ökonomie. Bielefeld: Transcript.
Braunstein, Dirk, and Simon Duckheim. 2015. “Adornos Lukács – Ein Lektürebericht”. Lukács 2014/2015. Jahrbuch der Internationalen Georg-Lukács-Gesellschaft 14(15): 27–79.
Chari, Anita. 2010. Toward a political critique of reification. Lukács, Honneth and the aims of critical theory. Philosophy and Social Criticism 36(5): 587–606.
Dannemann, Rüdiger. 1986. Das Verdinglichungsproblem und Habermas’ Versuch einer Reformulierung. In Georg Lukács. Jenseits der Polemiken, ed. Rüdiger Dannemann. Frankfurt/M.: Sendler Verlag.
———. 1987. Das Prinzip Verdinglichung. Studie zur Philosophie Georg Lukács. Frankfurt/M.: Sendler Verlag.
Eiden-Offe, Patrick. 2011. Typing class: Classification and redemption in Lukács’s political and literary theory. In Georg Lukács: The fundamental dissonance of existence, ed. Timothy Bewes, and Timothy Hall. Continuum: London/New York.
Feenberg, Andrew. 1988. The question of organization in the early Marxist work of Lukács. Technique or praxis? In Lukács today. Essays in Marxist philosophy, ed. Tom Rockmore. Dordrecht: Kluver Academic Publishers.
———. 2011. Rethinking reification. In Georg Lukács: The fundamental dissonance of existence, ed. Timothy Bewes, and Timothy Hall. London/New York: Continuum.
———. 2014. The philosophy of praxis. Marx, Lukács, and the Frankfurt School. London/New York: Verso.
Habermas, Jürgen. 1971. Anhang: Literaturbericht zur philosophischen Diskussion um Marx und den Marxismus (1957). In Jürgen Habermas. Theorie und Praxis. Sozialphilosophische Studien. Frankfurt/M: Suhrkamp.
———. 1974. Introduction: Some difficulties in the attempt to link theory and praxis. In Jürgen Habermas. Theory and Practice. Trans. J. Viertel. Boston: Beacon Press.
———. 1981. Interview mit Detlef Horster und Willem van Reijen. In Jürgen Habermas. Kleine politische Schriften I–IV. Frankfurt/M: Suhrkamp.
———. 1987. The philosophical discourse of modernity. Twelve lectures. Trans. F. Lawrence. Cambridge: Polity Press.
———. 1991. The theory of communicative action. Vol. 1 (Reason and the rationalization of society). Trans. Th. McCarthy. Cambridge: Polity Press.
———. 1992. The theory of communicative action. Vol. 2 (Lifeworld and system: A critique of functionalist reason). Trans. Th. McCarthy. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Hall, Timothy. 2011a. Reification, materialism, and praxis: Adorno’s critique of Lukács. Telos 155: 61–82.
———. 2011b. Returning to Lukács: Honneth’s critical reconstruction of Lukács’ concepts of reification and praxis. In Lukács reconsidered. Critical essays in politics, philosophy and aesthetics, ed. Michael J. Thompson. New York/London: Continuum.
Hohendahl, Peter Uwe. 1985. The dialectic of enlightenment revisited: Habermas’ critique of the Frankfurt School. New German Critique 35: 3–26.
Honneth, Axel. 1991. The critique of power. Reflexive stages in a critical social theory. Trans. K. Baynes. Cambridge/Mass.: MIT Press.
———. 1995. The struggle for recognition. The moral grammar of social conflicts. Trans. J. Anderson. Cambridge: Polity Press.
———. 2008. Reification. A new look at an old idea, ed. M. Jay. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.
Horkheimer, Max. 1974. Eclipse of reason. London/New York: Continuum.
Horkheimer, Max, and Adorno, Theodor W. 1985. Diskussion über Dialektik [1939?]. In Max Horkheimer, Gesammelte Schriften. Vol. 12 (Nachgelassene Schriften 1931–1949), ed. G. Schmid Noerr. Frankfurt/M: Fischer.
———. 2002. Dialectic of enlightenment. Philosophical fragments. Trans. E. Jephcott. Stanford/California: Stanford University Press.
Jay, Martin. 1984. Adorno. Cambridge/Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Joas, Hans. 1986. Die unglückliche Ehe von Hermeneutik und Funktionalismus. In Kommunikatives Handeln. Beiträge zu Jürgen Habermas’ “Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns”, ed. Axel Honneth, and Hans Joas. Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp.
Jütten, Timo. 2010. What is reification? A critique of Axel Honneth. Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 53(3): 235–256.
Kavoulakos, Konstantinos. 2011. Back to history? Reinterpreting Lukács’ early Marxist work in light of the antinomies of contemporary critical theory. In Lukács reconsidered. Critical essays in politics, philosophy and aesthetics, ed. Michael J. Thompson. New York/London: Continuum.
———. 2014. Ästhetizistische Kulturkritik und ethische Utopie. Georg Lukács’ neukantianisches Frühwerk. Boston/Berlin: Akademie Verlag (de Gruyter).
Lukács, Georg. 1978. The theory of the novel. A historico-philosophical essay on the forms of great epic literature. Trans. A. Bostock. London: Merlin Press.
——— (2002) History and class consciousness. Studies in Marxist dialectics (1st ed.: 1971). Cambridge/Mass.: MIT Press.
Marx, Karl. 1990. Capital. A critique of political economy. Vol. 1, Trans. B. Fowkes. London: Penguin.
McCarthy, Thomas. 1985. Complexity and democracy, or the seducements of systems theory. New German Critique 35: 27–53.
Quadflieg, Dirk. 2011. Zur Dialektik von Verdinglichung und Freiheit. Von Lukács zu Honneth – und zurück zu Hegel. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 59(5): 701–715.
Stahl, Titus. 2011. Verdinglichung als Pathologie zweiter Ordnung. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 59(5): 731–746.
———. 2012. Verdinglichung und Herrschaft. Technikkritik als Kritik sozialer Praxis. In Ding und Verdinglichung: Technik- und Sozialphilosophie nach Heidegger und der Kritischen Theorie, ed. Hans Friesen, Christian Lotz, et al. Wilhelm Fink: Munich.
Thompson, Michael J. 2011. Ontology and totality: Reconstructing Lukács’ concept of critical theory. In Lukács reconsidered. Critical essays in politics, philosophy and aesthetics, ed. Michael J. Thompson. New York/London: Continuum.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kavoulakos, K. (2017). Lukács’ Theory of Reification and the Tradition of Critical Theory. In: Thompson, M. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Theory. Political Philosophy and Public Purpose. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55801-5_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55801-5_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-55800-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-55801-5
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)