Critical theory, democratic defense, and the politics of knowledge

This paper charts the potential of critical theories to inform defenses of democracy. To do so, it reconstructs Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer’s politics of knowledge in post-war Germany. It demonstrates that their efforts suggest a potential alternative strategy to extant models of democratic defense. These efforts include, among others, Adorno’s proposals for democratic education and Horkheimer’s engagement in re-establishing empirical sociology in Germany, both of which were meant to foster a democratic culture. They indicate a development away from theoretical self-certainty and towards the analysis of historically specific democratic knowledge. This provides clues to how critical theories might contribute to the defense of democracy today. Rather than insisting on received theoretical positions, critical theories ought to engage in analyses that excavate knowledge structures which are conducive to a democratic culture. By recovering early Critical Theory’s post-war approach to democratic defense, the paper thus (1) opens pathways for retheorizing democratic defense and (2) enables a rethinking of critical theory’s relationship to democratic politics today.