Abstract

A traditional orientation in Critical Theory has consisted in advocating for collective emancipation, locating critique at the intersection between philosophy and sociology. To many interpreters today, this peculiarity of critique appears out of fashion. Consequently, showing the urgent need for an interdisciplinary collaboration between philosophy and sociology for Critical Theory asks both for a consistent innovation of Critical Theory’s canon and for maintaining a continuity in its tradition. To this end, in the last years, a dialogue between Critical Theory and some of the main critical orientations in French critical sociology and philosophy of social sciences has fruitfully unfolded. These exchanges have shown the need for philosophy and sociology to find a common ground and, thereby, escape the risk of fragmentation due to different intellectual sensibilities. Meanwhile, a new evaluation of Durkheim’s epistemological, political, and critical ambitions which resituated his position in the history of modern philosophical and sociological thought was emerging. Following this intellectual conjuncture, the contributions contained in this book investigate Durkheim’s legacy in order to interrogate the meaning of critique at the crossroad between philosophy and sociology.