Critiquing criticism: From the Enlightenment to the Frankfurt School and poststructuralist deconstruction

This article explores the evolution of critical thought from the Enlightenment through the Frankfurt School to poststructuralism and deconstruction, focusing on the transformations and critiques of critique itself. The author's central objective is to investigate how critical thinking, initiated during the Enlightenment, progressively evolved through various intellectual stages, undergoing significant transformations and critical reinterpretations. The methodological framework of the article includes a historical-comparative analysis, combined with a textual interpretation of critical philosophical works. The research begins by addressing the Enlightenment as a pivotal historical and intellectual milestone, focusing particularly on the ambiguous role of Jean-Jacques Rousseau within Enlightenment thought. Rousseau's critique of civilization and culture, favoring a return to a pre-cultural, natural state, introduces early tensions within Enlightenment philosophy, challenging its predominantly pro-cultural stance. Rousseau's linguistic dichotomy between spoken and written language further enriches the analysis, providing essential insights into Enlightenment criticism's inner contradictions. The analysis transitions to the Frankfurt School, highlighting Herbert Marcuse's critique of modern capitalist civilization as inherently repressive. Marcuse's ideas, reflecting an echo of Rousseau's anti-civilizational sentiments, suggest parallels between Enlightenment criticism and Frankfurt School theory, emphasizing cultural repression and alienation. Further, the research methodically examines how Jacques Derrida and poststructuralists undertake a critical reinterpretation and radical deconstruction of Rousseau's Enlightenment critique. Derrida challenges Rousseau's binary oppositions, such as nature-culture and speech-writing, proposing instead a complex interplay where culture and language precede the supposed "natural" state. The research thus elucidates Derrida's concept of differance, highlighting how meaning in cultural and linguistic contexts remains perpetually deferred and fragmented, fundamentally undermining traditional Enlightenment binaries. Finally, the article integrates these philosophical debates within the contemporary context of institutional critique, particularly through the prism of the "University discourse." Utilizing contributions by thinkers like Slavoj Zizek and Michel Foucault, as well as sociologist Bruno Latour, the author critically assesses the paradoxical relationship between intellectuals and institutional frameworks. The article concludes by reflecting on the intricate trajectory of critical thought, demonstrating its evolution from Enlightenment rationality to contemporary poststructuralist positions. The research significantly clarifies how critical theories navigate between negative critique and self-reflexive deconstruction, ultimately articulating the ongoing tension and productive interplay within modern intellectual discourses. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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