THE FRANKFURT SCHOOL AND METAPHYSICS

Abstract

Metaphysics found, in Aristotle, its first attempt to articulate. He seeks to determine the nature of this knowledge: it thematizes the principles that are valid for the knowledge of any entity. From its very beginning, Frankfurt’s Critical Theory was articulated in opposition to both metaphysics and the positivist conception of science. In this essay, we consider the opposition to metaphysics, taking M. Horkheimer as a representative of the initial phase and, in the current phase, J. Habermas, who explicitly thematized the opposition. Starting from the pragmatic turn, Habermas articulates a post-metaphysical model of philosophy that ends up introducing a metaphysics conceived in the form of contemporary physicalism.

Keywords: Metaphysics. Totality. Critical Theory. Post-metaphysical Thinking.