Descent of the Dialectic: Phronetic Criticism in an Age of Nihilism

This book reconstructs the concept and practice of dialectics as a means of grounding a critical theory of society. At the center of this project is the thesis of phronetic criticism or a form of reason that is able to synthesize human value with objective rationality.

Michael J. Thompson is Professor of Political Theory at William Paterson University and a psychoanalyst in New York City. His recent books include: The Domestication of Critical Theory, The Specter of Babel: A Reconstruction of Political Judgment and Twilight of the Self: The Decline of the Individual in Late Capitalism.