Author: M. Farahi Tojegi
A Brief Overview of the Frankfurt School (Part 15)
A Critique of the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School from the Perspective of Islam
God created the human being with the power of reason and thought so that he may organize his life through this faculty and not fall into dead ends when managing his affairs. So that he may choose the correct path in life and not become lost by illuminating the dark areas of existence with the light of intellect. So that in distinguishing between good and evil, and in choosing what is beautiful and rejecting what is ugly, he may act rationally—observing both personal interests and public welfare—so the world becomes a better place to live in both for himself and for his fellow human beings, peace and tranquility may remain, and conflict and tension may not arise.
Despite this powerful faculty of perception, God Almighty, to guide human beings toward the realms of spiritual openness, ascension to higher levels of spirituality, and the fulfillment of the purpose for which mankind was created, made the religion and path of Islam a lamp for the life of humanity. And for explaining, promoting, and implementing it, He chose the best and most elect of His servants so that, in the position of teachers of humanity, they would lead human life toward the abode of bliss. Since the teachings of Islam are in harmony with human intellect and fulfill all natural and essential needs, human reason and thought quickly become familiar with them, embrace them, and choose them as a guide for life.
That reason distinguishes between good and evil and adopts one while rejecting the other is the product of its understanding of the teachings of religion, which draws goodness closer and drives away evil. Human nature sits at the feet of learning in the school of religion, and the fragments of its being are joined together by its strong adhesive, forming a unified surface capable of reflecting the beauties and flaws of life.
Based on this, the creation of the human being is aligned with a divine duty—namely, the worship of the Lord of the Worlds. If this human being cuts himself off from that firm rope and wishes to walk alone across the desert of bewilderment or wander through a dense forest, he will quickly lose his way. Perhaps by clinging to reason and intellect alone he may traverse a distance, but he will not be able to complete the journey or reach its end. For this reason, the essence of religion is an ancient and divine trust embedded within human nature; removing and discarding it is like severing a vital organ from the body—life without it becomes impossible.
However, despite all this, across the vastness of life, there are human beings who are still lost and bewildered in the twists and turns of finding an approach that aligns with human nature and existence. Sometimes, relying solely on human intellect and thought, they devise and formulate concepts, notions, and ideologies. They take these as standards and criteria, pride themselves upon them, and their eyes gleam with self-satisfaction. But when they attempt to apply them in practical life as laws for living together, they quickly realize their shortcomings and failures and begin to alter and replace them. Or perhaps, even after perceiving their ineffectiveness, out of stubbornness and egocentrism, they persist in their narrow-minded knowledge and refuse to admit its deficiencies. Yet the sun of truth does not remain forever behind the clouds of falsehood and deception—one day it will rise, and others will step forth to expose those flaws and shortcomings.
All schools of thought across the world that have formulated some doctrine or teaching for human life and have lit a dim torch with their limited knowledge suffer from this very deficiency; the links in their chains do not form a strong bond. The only way to strengthen the foundations of knowledge and enhance their discoveries and understandings is to return to the teachings of the Prophets and to the natural religion ingrained in human nature—Islam. By weighing what they have achieved in the scales of the Book and the Sunnah, they can remove the dust of flaws and shortcomings from the face of their knowledge.
The Frankfurt School—whose definition, founders, and ideas have already been discussed—is one of these very schools. It presents views and theories on several key issues related to human life and existence. In this article, we will measure each of these with the precise standard of the religion of Islam and will pull out from the roots every deficiency, blockage, and shortcoming, so that the inadequacy and even the ineffectiveness of such limited teachings—confined to human intellect and thought—may become clear to the readers.
Examination of the Components of the Frankfurt School
At the heart of the critical theory of the Frankfurt School lies the idea that modern society and instrumental rationality are the source of the current crisis in the moral components of the Enlightenment era.
Adorno and Horkheimer believe that rationalists attempted to free human beings from their mythical roots, but since rationalism did not lead to practical reason and the revival of human individuality, and instead reached instrumental reason, it could not free itself from the chains of myth. Therefore, it created a myth out of reason itself and became governed by it.
From the viewpoint of the Frankfurt School, in this process, within critical theory, we witness a movement in which true Enlightenment and its moral values have been exploited. By examining the critical thought of the Frankfurt School, one can identify the most important moral components of critical theory as individuality, reliance on autonomous reason, and social freedom. In fact, from the perspective of the Frankfurt School, morality and having moral conduct in modern societies are the revival and attention to these three important components.
In what follows, these three important components of critical theory will be examined and critically evaluated from the perspective of the Frankfurt School and Islamic thought.
From the Islamic point of view, individuality, reason, independence of will, and human autonomy have a metaphysical origin. Islam defines human individuality and freedom in relation to metaphysics and explains the dignity and status of human beings through their transcendent dimension in relation to the system of existence and God. According to Islam, the proper use of reason leads human beings to the understanding that they are not abandoned beings but rather are under divine lordship.
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Individuality
Individuality in the critical theory of the Frankfurt School, and the analysis of cultural theory within this school, shows that this theory implicitly contains an ideal image of a free human being. The anthropological assumptions of this theory indicate that an autonomous and creative human can make rational decisions and, using critical reason, analyze and critique the various ideologies imposed upon him; stand against the culture industry and its illusory values; maintain independence of opinion; and communicate with others.
The Frankfurt School’s excessive concern with cultural phenomena—or in other words, with expressions and directives arising from human consciousness—demonstrates its particular attention to the individual as the core of thought and action.
From the viewpoint of critical theory, the ideal human being is one who has the ability to stand against the capitalist system and critique it with the help of awareness and critical reason.
Hans Dirks, quoting Adorno, writes: “In the capitalist system, the human subject and individuality are fragmented and collapse in order to make room for a ‘merchant self,’ which transforms everything into an object and a commodity for exchange so that it may acquire it. In such a condition, true sensitive subjectivity presents itself as an alternative, as something different from this false reality… Keeping the feeling of suffering alive and reviving individuality is the task of philosophy as critical theory.” (1)
Individuality in Islamic Thought
As mentioned, individualism can be considered one of the fundamental elements in the theoretical foundations of critical theory and also one of the main components in the critical theory of the Frankfurt School. However, some of the very significant and negative aspects of individuality include: the growth of personal selfishness, turning away from public interests and social virtues, and the decline of social morality in the Frankfurt School. This is because, by emphasizing and focusing on individuality, the Frankfurt School falls into a kind of self-contradiction. Critical theory is entirely centered on human individuality, while one of the main elements of the culture industry—born from the capitalist system—is that same individuality which critical theory constantly emphasizes. Individuality was one of the pillars of the Enlightenment, yet it was this very individuality that caused the Enlightenment to drift away from its ideals. This issue prompted Horkheimer and Adorno to write an article titled “The Enlightenment as Mass Deception (or Mass Individuality).”
One of the major contradictions of individuality in critical theory is that, on the one hand, individuality in this theory is usually coupled with the implicit notion of a kind of principle of equality, and the principle of honoring freedom, as an intrinsic end, is often regarded as one of the fundamental principles of individuality in this theory. Yet, it is overlooked that within individuality, there is another component that strongly indicates the claim of the self-worshipping nature of the individual. Therefore, as the author rightly points out, this form of individuality tends to regard other individuals not as ends, but rather as means to achieve its own goals. This is precisely the same criticism that the Frankfurt School directs toward the culture industry and capitalist society. Consequently, the concept of individuality in the discourse of this school presents a contradictory image of good and evil within human beings, one that cannot be logically accommodated within a single coherent theory. (2)
In the Islamic perspective, emphasis on human individuality never carries any contradiction; because in this view, true individuality and self-love signify the movement of a person toward their natural goal and perfection. In other words, moving along the straight path of creation in no way requires that one’s individuality or true self be transformed into another being.
In this view, individuality and self-love never lead to rebellion or the deprivation of freedom from others; for in Islamic thought, individuality guides a person toward their true perfection and moves them from the false self to the true self. Since God is aligned with the self, and the true self ultimately returns to God, the fruit of individuality and self-love is not the limitation of personal desires, but immersion in divine satisfaction. Therefore, servitude to God is itself true individuality that does not lead to self-alienation, because God is the perfection of human individuality and the ultimate goal and purpose of all creation.
To be continued…
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References
- Hans Dirks, Philosophical Anthropology, p. 136.
- Behzad Hamidi, Rediscovering Individualism and Its Consequences, p. 237.
