[FRA:] cognitive science & critical theory revisited

[Ralph Dumain]

Recently I posted a critique of this project:

Introduction: Mind-Culture Coevolution
William L. Benzon
12 February 2003
http://asweknowit.ca/evcult/Intro.shtml

I gave my reasons why its theoretical basis is deeply flawed and what it is 
blind to.  I mentioned the Frankfurt School in my final sentence.  I was 
also thinking of the two articles I had just read:

Social Crisis and German Idealism - in search of the origins of Critical 
Theory
Frederik van Gelder
http://www.amsterdam-adorno.org/fvg_melbourne_CT.html

Personal identity, collective identity, the identity of science - 
continental versus analytic perspectives
Frederik van Gelder
http://www.amsterdam-adorno.org/continental-analytic.html

. . . both of which I'd just reviewed individually.  The latter argues that 
analytical philosophy is driven by the technocratic frame of 
mind.   Cognitive science is mentioned as a component of this project.  The 
former essay contrasts how cognitive science conceives the subject with 
Habermas' conception.  The Frankfurt School provides a strong normative 
conception of rational inquiry vs. the technocratic cast of mind of the 
analytical school.

While I suspect this is true as a matter of intellectual culture, the exact 
characterization of the problem concerns me.  Many years ago I was immersed 
in a milieu rife with this sort of thing, and while I was fascinated with 
such -problems myself, and with certain aspects of artificial intelligence, 
I was deeply suspicious of much of it and especially of the kind of people 
involved in it, not because of the intrinsic intellectual aspects of the 
field but because of the social subtext--to put it bluntly, the masters 
these people were serving.  Now Benzon's project, while different, reminds 
me of the blindnesses of a certain kind of theory.  You could call it 
technocratic, but a precise criticism of what's wrong with it is 
warranted.  I don't think van Gelder quite nailed the problem.