Theory caught up in dialectics: Some reflections on Asger Sørensen’s capitalism, alienation and critique

Abstract

This paper presents three interconnected examinations of Asger Sørensen’s arguments in Capitalism, Alienation and Critique, which thematize Sørensen’s overarching understanding of the relationship between theory and practice: his general methodological perspective on critical theory, its distinctive epistemology and its anchoring in the empirical world. The paper authors each try to push Sørensen on these crucial points by considering how Sørensen’s variant of critical theory actually operates, scrutinizing in more detail the particular relationship between the ‘experience of injustice’, which for Sørensen constitutes the empirical foothold for critical theory, and the theoretical diagnosis of social reality which the critical theorist should formulate against the backdrop of this experience.

Ovaj rad predstavlja tri povezana ispitivanja argumentacije Asgera Serensena u Kapitalizmu, otuđenju i kritici, koja tematizuju Serensenovo generalno razumevanje odnosa teorije i prak se, drugim rečima njegovu metodološku perspektivu u pogledu kritičke teorije, njene speci fične epistemologije i njene ukorenjenosti u empirijskom svetu. Marjan Ivković, Srđan Pro danović i Milan Urošević nastoje da problematizuju Serensenovo stanovište razmatrajući način na koji Serensenova kritička teorija zapravo funkcioniše, analizirajući detaljnije odnos između ,iskustva nepravdeʻ, koje za Serensena predstavlja empirijsko uporište kritičke teo rije, i teorijske dijagnoze društvene stvarnosti koju kritički teoretičar formuliše na temelju tog iskustva