Theoretical heritage of the Frankfurt school of critical theory in the contemporary Ukrainian realities

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THEORETICAL HERITAGE OF THE FRANKFURT SCHOOL OF CRITICAL THEORY IN THE CONTEMPORARY UKRAINIAN REALITIES

I.O. KOZAKEVYCH

Аннотации

Леворадикальная франкфуртская критическая теория рассматривается в контексте актуальных задач социально-экономической и политической трансформации Украины. Опыт творческих поисков и организационного развития Франкфуртской школы анализируется с точки зрения содержательно близких идеологических преобразований, очередных цивилизационных столкновений современности, значимых для бизнес-элиты и политического класса. Критическая настроенность сбалансированна творческим порывом и сегодня является необходимым условием успешной политической, экспертной, просветительской и научной деятельности, важным компонентом государственного и общественного развития.

The left-wing radical Frankfurt critical theory is considered in the context of the relevant objectives of Ukraine's socioeconomic and political transformation. An attempt was made to single out and systematize those theoretical tenets of the Frankfurt School's representatives that are useful to understand the transformational changes contemporary Ukrainian society is witnessing. The example of activities of the Frankfurt School's representatives can serve as a guide for the development of liberal education significant to the business elite and political class. A critical mood balanced by a creative impulse still is the prerequisite for successful political, expert, outreach and scientific activities, an important component of socioeconomic, state and societal development.

The left-wing radical Frankfurt critical theory is considered in the context of critical tasks of the socio-economic and political transformation of Ukraine. The experience of the creative research and organizational progress of the Frankfurt School is analyzed from the point of view of ideological transformations that are similar in terms of content, of the recurrent civilizational clashes of the present which are important for the business elite and political class. The critical disposition is balanced with creative impulse and today it is a prerequisite for successful political, expert, educational, and scientific activities, an important component of the state and public development.

The Frankfurt School is a specific and unique phenomenon of the twentieth century, a reaction to its contradictions, to the tragedies and opportunities of this time, to the world wars, to the regime of concentration camps, nuclear, and atomic threats. Analyzing the basic ideological tendencies of the School and their relevance for the present, it is important to turn to the primary sources -- to works by W. Benjamin (“Zur Kritik der Gewalt”, 1921) [1], H. Marcuse (“Hegel's Ontology and the Theory of Historicity”, 1932) [2], W. Reich (“Die Sexualitat im Kulturkampf”, 1936) [3], L. Lowenthal (“On Sociology of Literature”, 1948) [4], J. Habermas (“Between Facts & Norms”, 1997) [5], and many others, who, because of limits characteristic of a scientific article, are not mentioned here.

The left-wing radical theory of the Frankfurt School and its connection with the present were interpreted by many domestic and foreign scholars of different areas of social and human research.

In our study, the left-wing radical Frankfurt critical theory is considered in the context of critical tasks of the socio-economic and political transformation of Ukraine. The goal of the article is carrying out a try to isolate and organize the theoretical propositions of representatives of the Frankfurt School which can be useful for understanding the transformations that are experienced by the contemporary Ukrainian society. Some practical advice of German philosophers proposed by them in hard and crisis periods of the twentieth century can be extrapolated to the current socio-economic and socio-political realities of Ukraine. It is also important to consider the experience of the creative research and organizational progress of representatives of this School from the point of view of ideological transformations similar in terms of content, of recurrent civilizational clashes, the issue of which becomes increasingly interesting for contemporary intellectuals, social activists, political actors, government officials, and international experts.

The contemporary social and human sciences are notable for significant theoretical advances, concepts, and approaches. Taken together, they need not only detailed studying and implementation, but also constant rethinking, synergy. Scientists' dialogue and polylogue around current economic, social, and political issues is a necessary condition for successful social development.

Prospects of socio-political development are an important part of the scientific achievements of the representatives and followers of the Frankfurt School. Some of them are still relevant, whereas others can serve as a basis for further theoretical or applied research. A significant part of the considerations concerning the future is represented by judgments of the thinkers about young people and their role in social and political progress. The outlined issues make the heritage of the critical theory relevant to the contemporary social and political realities of independent Ukraine. In periods of military confrontations, radical changes in the type of social and economic coexistence, in political regime, young people react to such transformations in a special way. They decidedly make a radical reassessment of the traditions, customs, values, and aspirations of older generations. The attitudes of the young people in the period of the transformation of the Ukrainian society fluctuate between extreme poles. At the same time, the fundamental breakdown of the social structures of the transitional period is impacting the environment of youth bringing about complex consequences of discontent, frustration, distrust of the political and power structures, which can be used by extremist forces with dangerous results.

It is telling that these questions are repetitive in historical retrospective, and the political and philosophical heritage of the theorists of the Frankfurt School serves as a proof of that. In particular, L. Leventhal, sharing his own experience of communicating with students, notes that youth is notable for impatience and often erroneously expects to master some perfect formula established once and for all. The scientist stresses the impossibility of such an approach and the need for relentless search for oneself [4].

Indeed, supporters and followers of the teaching of the Frankfurt School had an opportunity to be witnesses and participants of crucial global shifts in the youth movement. Changes in the political map of the world, diseases of totalitarianism, the transition to the Cold War, the collapse of dictatorial states in Europe, reforms of market economy, a radical shift in the youth movement, worsening of environmental problems, problems of addictions, extension of migration flows -- all these factors were important for the appearance of new ideas of thinkers and at the same time they were to a certain extent predicted by them. The critical theory arises as a result of and an engine for the social and political transformations of the West- em world in general and its youth environment in particular. This teaching again provides historical arguments and theoretical justifications for the fact that it is youth that can readily join the ranks of extremist organizations. Thus the task of the state youth policy should be not only strict control over the activities of young people, but also formation of an attractive and affordable democratic alternative of socio-political development.

However, the most notable Freudo-Marxists' visions of future development were associated with critical attitude to the past and traditional. Oftentimes, those scientists saw the prospects of social and political development in changes in family education. A family forms in the process of education the type of character structure which supports the economic structure of the society in general. In particular, along with the bold assertion that ideologies are rooted in the very structure of an individual, W. Reich tries to follow the progress of this process, the importance of personal growth for the development of societies, their moral, economic, political foundations. Character is formed from childhood as a result of conflicts and crises of family life. So it is important to turn to the type of family, to education practices that are inherent in a particular culture to understand how economic realities turn into political, moral, and religious ideas [3].

In the structure of the left-wing radical teaching, prospects of the future are conceived as ones that today are already inherent in youth environment, in family growth as well as in the history of a nation, in its past and in the perception of that past by politicians, authorities, and ordinary citizens. Following Hegel's considerations, H. Marcuse writes that the decisive history is not one that was experienced, but one that is remembered. One of the central claims of H. Marcuse, which is put forward by him to the modern civilization, concerns the fact that sources of disobedience and rebellion “dry up” in culture as in a collective memory, in the course of the fight between oblivion and historical memory [2]. This topic of collective memory indicates that historicity cannot be understood from the point of view of concern for individual existence, but it should be looked for in the communications and narratives that make up the structure of our living world.

As it is aptly stressed by V. Yermolenko [10], left-wing authors proclaim that the only way to carry out a true revolutionary breakthrough is a mysterious jump in the deep past. Among others, the researcher draws our attention to the works of W. Benjamin [1], who perceived the historical time as the realm of the destruction of reality, of its catastrophic splitting into fragments and debris. Perceiving history as a catastrophe gives space for such important topics as nostalgia and memory, mourning for the past, old-fashioned attachment to things. On the other hand, just this feeling of disastrous splitting of reality gives Benjamin the possibility of freedom of collage creative work: gathering fragments of the old reality, one can create a new one, which may be even better than the old one [10].

However, views on traditions, historical principles, national foundations and their relevant significance for establishing political relations in society differed among the followers of the Frankfurt teaching. For example, in light of new challenges of today, J. Habermas proposes to revise the foundations of the identity of individuals and societies: “A new identity of a society that has broken the borders of individual states can neither correlate with a certain territory nor can it rely on a certain organization” [12, 49]. The basis of a new identity of society, according to J. Habermas, is the idea of the universality of democracy and human rights, in which today the foundations of national traditions, history, and memory are reflected, too. These ideas become particularly important today, because, as domestic scientists warn, complexes and fears from the past are often transferred to the political realities of the present and define the political identity of radical social groups. The force of inertia and habit, the fear of change, of competition, the tragedy of a crash of the system -- all this creates in the public conscience a solid foundation for the development of nostalgia for the past, even for the undemocratic one [7, 81-82]. Rethinking the past in new social and political realities is accompanied by significant emotional sufferings. Revising history, establishing an updated version of the past can be indicative not only of spiritual and intellectual enrichment of society, but also of manipulative political practices.

The Frankfurt School has formed around itself a number of followers including respected intellectuals, influential experts, and known educators. At the same time, creative pursuits of representatives of the Frankfurt School brought about already during their lives a wave of outrage and rejection. These theorists are accused, among other things, of creating a concept and a plan of de-Christianization of Western civilization as well as of moral, ethical, and spiritual decline of society.

The scientific and social activities of members of the Frankfurt School oblige already in our own day to review traditional attitudes toward humanitaristics and its role in democratic development. Confirming the status of humanology as a profession, proponents of the critical theory tried to contribute to overcoming the crisis of social and human sciences. Today, the example of the Frankfurt School is especially appropriate -- this School even in exile managed to keep its humanist calling, calling for being a leader of public opinion and self-awareness, for leading people. These German thinkers emerged as public intellectuals that debunked the conservative image of humanitaristics, were not afraid to confront the system, to freely express their opinions.

In the diversity of scientific fields around current issues of philosophy, psychology, politics, economics, arts, law, scientists have always attracted public attention to problems of man, of human self-knowledge. Special contribution of followers of the Frankfurt School consists in their ability to make clear the importance of knowledge which teaches man to understand himself and to actualize himself; to respect others; to understand other cultures and epochs; to reflect on the goals of mankind and on his own place in the historical and political process. Nowadays, in the context of information transformations, of globalization, the return of the authority of experts in human disciplines has become relevant once again. Just like in the sixties of the twentieth century, it is important for society to avoid excessive technocratization, not to lose the skills of specialists in the negotiation process, consulting, interactive formats, etc.

The example of representatives of the Frankfurt School still can serve as a model of professional development, a method through which a humanist can realize his potential in the contemporary world. Despite the crisis of the humanities, the role of liberal education in society remains significant, in particular when talking about the business elite and the political class. Specialists with a degree in humanities (political science, law, philology, cultural studies, international relations, history, philosophy, psychology, etc), unlike the others, are characterized by sensitivity to the integral dynamics of the contemporary social and political development, to the advance of civilization. Each new stage in the development of science and technology, the advancement of other branches of knowledge along their specific trajectories bring them increasingly closer to humanist problems, to metaphysical, social, ethical, esthetic, legal, cognitive, and other similar issues.

To a great extent, the creative heritage of the Frankfurt School was oriented to fighting for free and creative thinking, against adaptability, conservatism, faith in undeniable facts and off-the-shelf truth. Nowadays, the task of developing this creative thinking, experiments, intellectual innovations, creating new concepts, approaches, methodologies, alternative models of world order, etc is still crucial.

The image of a Frankfurt School theorist is now a kind of a model of a public intellectual sensitive on people around him, on disciples who follow him, on society that listens to him. This image and authority were for a long time associated with many developers of the left-wing radical theory. For example, ten years after the death of W. Reich, his name and ideas become particularly popular and even symbolic. His writings were read like modern sermons, excerpts from them were quoted by rock idols of the 1960-s. At one time, W. Reich himself insisted on his right to study natural phenomena “with no guns aimed at him”, on the right to be wrong [13]. During the wave of mass protests in 1968, French students threw from barricades at policemen books by the scientist, fought for human rights, against racism, advocated feminism and environmental protection. The causes of these revolutionary events were of economic, political, and philosophical nature. The new generation supported non-conformism and social justice. The “New Left”, just like H. Marcuse, believed that the working class in the developed countries, achieving comfortable life, stopped being a revolutionary force, and its place in the fight for changing society, for overcoming alienation should have been taken by the marginalized, students, and intellectuals. Finally, the Western society manifested considerable flexibility and tolerance to accept and work out these protest sentiments of youth. By the mid-1970-s, left-wing radical movements no longer posed any threat to the stability of the Western society, occupying quite a small niche in the political sphere, but rather a prominent one in art, culture, and science.

The topic of the role of expert environment as a part of civil society was addressed by followers of the teaching of the Frankfurt School also later. J. Habermas believes that “civil society is a public sphere that is an intermediary between society and the state, in which society is a carrier of public opinion” [12, 83]. These proposals distinguish new horizons of the development of social and human knowledge.

Works of the German theorists show how important it is to be able to be critical about social and political realities, about the political establishment, about challenges of neo-totalitarianism, oligarchy, etc, and at the same time not to resort to intellectual pettiness, vanity, rivalry, or mere irritability. This stance of “resistance”, “refuse”, “rejection”, opposition to political centrism, critical opposition to the state, the administration, police, corporations was balanced by the awareness of the multifaceted nature of the phenomenon of power, by the expansion of its content from exclusively the power of the state to the power of science, intelligence, poetry, music, religion, family, etc. Critical disposition balanced by creative impulse still -- even today -- is a prerequisite for successful politological, expert, educational, and scientific activities, an important component of any creative project.

The peculiarities of the transition period of the social and political development, which Ukraine is still going through, have a total nature and cover not only the political and power sphere of the life of man and society, but also the economic, social, and cultural ones. The situation the Ukrainian society is passing through is dynamic, constantly changing, in the course of which forms of participation of man, of a social group, of an institution in political relations, processes, in the development of common values, orientations, and so on are often radically changed or modified. In accordance with the new historical tasks and prospects, the role of intellectuals in public life is changing. The experience of the activities of the Frankfurt School can serve as a certain example of attempts, mistakes, and achievements, of search for interdisciplinary connections, of crossing transnational borders on the way toward strengthening the authority of scientific knowledge in a society of dynamic transformations.

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