ABSTRACT
On the one hand, then, this self-awareness (of critical theorists’ place in the political spectrum) constitutes a concerted attempt to expose the hidden sources of societal reification; that is, how ideas and policies regarding social and political power convey an immediacy (of perception) that results in control and manipulation of the masses. On the other hand, the boundless negativity of this approach poses considerable challenges for those wishing to posit (affirm) an ethics that can guide and energise our rational understanding of social action at the domestic and international level. This is one of the principal reasons that we distinguish between first-and second-generation Frankfurt School theorists;3 and why the writings of Jürgen Habermas, the most notable of the second-generation theorists, remains crucial to devising a pragmatic framework of social action and global ethics (via linguistics and law).
