Theory and Philosophy: Antonyms in Our Semantic Field?

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art ›› 2021, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (4): 89-97.

• Western Literary Theory and Aesthetics Studies • Previous Articles Next Articles

Theory and Philosophy: Antonyms in Our Semantic Field?

Martin Jay

the University of California, Berkeley; the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, East China Normal University

Online:2021-07-25 Published:2021-07-18
About author:Martin Jay is the Ehrman Professor Emeritus of European history at the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests include European intellectual history, visual culture and critical theory. His books include The Dialectical Imagination: A History of the Frankfurt School and the Institute of Social Research, 1923-50 (1973), Permanent Exiles: Essays on the Intellectual Migration from Germany to America (1985), Downcast Eyes: The Denigration of Vision in Twentieth-Century French Thought (1993), Reason after Its Eclipse: On Late Critical Theory (2016), Splinters in Your Eyes: Frankfurt School Provocations (2020). Zheng Ningning is a MA student in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, East China Normal University. Her research focuses on modernity and western thought.

Abstract

Abstract: Building on the argument of a 1996 piece called "For Theory," which situated "theory" in a force field of its putative opposite terms, this essay explores the way "philosophy" has come to be considered an antonym of "theory" in much contemporary discourse. It argues that despite their often contrasting meanings and connotations, the two terms would benefit from a dialogue in which the strengths of each were acknowledged without their being either hierarchically positioned or turned into bland synonyms.

Key words: theory, philosophy, genesis, validity

Martin Jay. Theory and Philosophy: Antonyms in Our Semantic Field?[J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2021, 41(4): 89-97.

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Theory and Philosophy: Antonyms in Our Semantic Field?

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