Critical theory is a philosophical social scientific research program that engages in explanation against a background of normative interests. While Max Horkheimer conceived of the original research program as an attempt to revive a form of nonorthodox Marxism, Jürgen Habermas, the main representative of the second generation of critical theory, has developed a research program on the basis of a
... [Show full abstract] rational reconstruction of competencies of communicative action while increasingly assimilating the work of American pragmatists. Current critical theorists – besides Habermas – see a need to reconstruct the original research program, while retaining its orientation as a normatively driven theory.
