Publication details
Critique of Instrumental Reason for the 21st Century: The introduction to the Ideology of Metrics
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | In the milieu of legal theory, especially critical legal theory, one can no longer deny the unprecedented influence of ideology on the legal system, judicial decision-making, and thought itself. Thus, if we accept the reflection on the influence of ideology on legal thinking, we have to reflect on what ideas play a dominant role in our society. For this reason, I want to return to the "critique" as represented in the past by the so-called Frankfurt School. The object of criticism by sociologists such as Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer was the idea of so-called instrumental reason, which was developed in works such as Eclipse of Reason. The Frankfurt School thinkers were critical of the rationality and pragmatism that drove this instrumental reason. I believe that there is a dominant trend in contemporary social thought, which we can call “the ideology of metrics”, where mathematically cold justifications enter into considerations of social relations, the purpose and intent of which is to create an impenetrable dam that prevents the application of constructive criticism. This ideology of metrics is driven by similar considerations to rationality and pragmatism in the very subject of Frankfurt School critique. Therefore, in my view, it is possible to grasp this doctrine that preceded critical legal theory in order to still prove the relevance and necessity of CLS in opposition to the pervasive ideology of metrics. |
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