Ruth Sonderegger: Critical Exercises and the Philosophical Life

Lecture by Ruth Sonderegger ( Academy of Fine Arts Vienna ), organized by the Department of Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy

In his Theory of Practice Pierre Bourdieu famously argued that habitual everyday practices are blind, irreflexive and, therefore, without critical force. If anything, they reinforce the status quo. This is exactly why Bourdieu believes that critical theories should focus on practices as opposed to phenomena of false consciousness that were the focus of Marxist critical theories. In order to criticize and possibly change habitual practices and, likewise, the power structures accumulated in them, which undoubtedly was Bourdieu’s aim, habitual practices need to be analyzed and reflected from a (sociological) distance.

Michel de Certeau, on the other hand, argued, most notably in his The Practice of Everyday Life, that...(continue reading...)