Crisis de la interpretación de la modernidad en la teoría crítica. Consideraciones desde la ontología de la fluidez social

Abstract

In the present paper, the critical theory view of modernity is studied from the ontology of social fluidity standpoint. To do that, «Dialectics of Illustration, Philosophical Fragments» —and part of the bibliography derived from it— is analyzed, in order to show that the initial diagnosis of such philosophical current has been largely overcome by modern liquefaction. While the initial diagnosis was determined by the experiences of Holocaust and totalitarism in their different manifestations, the ontology of social fluidity stems from the expansion of global capitalism, the technological revolution and the virtual mediatic culture. For that reason, it makes sense to ask about the extent to which the original perspectives of the critical theory still remain as a source of an interpretation of modernity, nowadays in crisis. In addition to this, the contributions of the critical theory could provide to understand social fluidity.