The Dictionary of Human Geography

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summarizes as ‘the ideal speech situation’.

This serves as a basis for the critique ofideol-

ogyas distorted communication and false

consensus. Critical theory can thus be shown

to be grounded on normative standards

that are not arbitrary, but that are inherent

in the very structure of language and

communication.

Habermas links these ideas to an evolution-

ary, developmental model of social evolution

as a learning process. As societies evolve, ‘sys-

tem’ (which is to say those areas of social life

coordinated through the steering mechanisms

of money and power) becomes differentiated

and uncoupled from ‘lifeworld’ (the store-

house of background convictions and world

views against which individuals come to a

mutual understanding) (see figure). Capitalist

modernizationcan then be criticized as a

process of one-sided rationalization, involving

the ‘colonizing’ of the lifeworld through

the over-extension of steering mechanisms

of markets, bureaucracy and technological

rationality.

Habermas sees his work as an attempt to

continue theenlightenmenttradition in the

face of the irrational challenges ofpostmod-

ernism(Habermas, 1990 [1985]). However,

his own views have been criticized for present-

ing anethnocentricview of evolution and

rationality, and many have found his founda-

tionalist arguments for an ‘inherent telos of

speech’ oriented towards consensus

unconvincing.

Others have taken up the challenge posed in

his writings in new ways. Thomas McCarthy,

for example, is a leading figure in attempts

to build links between Habermas’ critical

theory and elements of American pragma-

tism. McCarthy’s book-length exchange with

David Hoy over the relative merits of a critical

theory based on the work of Habermas and the

genealogical approach of Foucault brings out

superbly the relative strengths and weaknesses

of the critical theory tradition (Hoy and

McCarthy, 1994). Hoy argues that Foucault

actually provides an alternative way of con-

tinuing the tradition of critical theory by devel-

oping an internal, genealogical critique that

brings to light the historicity of our reason

and self-understanding. In response, McCarthy

continues to defend Habermas’ aim of con-

structing a systematic theory of reason and

context-transcending truth claims as a neces-

sary basis for critique. This aim also serves

to differentiate Habermas’ engagement with

pragmatism from the more extreme construct-

ivist and ethnocentrist views of Richard

Rorty (see Habermas’ exchange with Rorty in

Brandom, 2000).

Two further caveats are necessary. First, it is

obviously the case that this particular tradition

of critical theory does not have a monopoly

on the concept of ‘critical’. Habermas and

Popper famously tussled over the critical

claims ofcritical rationalism, for example,

whilerealismasserts its critical potential on

the basis of a distinction between surface

appearances and underlying, causal mechan-

isms in a stratified view of reality. Similarly,

although the project of a critical human

geographyhas invoked critical theory in the

sense discussed here (see Gregory, 1978a,

1994), it is a much more heterodox tradition.

In part – and the second caveat – this is

because neither Habermas nor his critics have

critical theory Lifeworld and system

Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_C Final Proof page 126 31.3.2009 9:45pm

CRITICAL THEORY