CMN 3109 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Frankfurt School

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Communication
• Course: CMN 3109
• Professor: Dina Salha

Document Summary

Reconceptualization of instrumental reason: he agrees marx should be revised but he sees them as critiquing instrumental reason in the wrong way. Criticism of the work cult" advanced by frankfurt school: habermas blames frankfurt school for neglecting the idea of work as essential. Work is not just exploitation to him but necessary for humans. Habermas sees work as an essential constituent of human subjectivity: the anthropological significance of work as a necessity. Rational activity oriented towards a goal and presupposes a will to act as well as the choice of criteria and objectives that we can name. Conclusion: we have to distinguish instrumental reason from its historical conditions of emergence; work is a human faculty: according to habermas we are always using instrumental reason. He thinks the frankfurt school missed the point of work in terms of instrumental reason and anthropological significance.