Critical Theory

What is theory? What is the difference between theory and a presumption or fertile imagination? What is criticism? What is the difference between fault finding and an investigative curiosity? What makes theory, as well as criticism, into a good theory or an insightful criticism? What is a bad theory or a flawed criticism?

We will explore thinkers and researchers in the theoretical field. We will examine concepts, methods, motions and critical schemes. Mostly, we will focus on contemporary critics and ask about the state of criticism today. We will begin with thinkers such as Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, but we will also read Bergson, De Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty, Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze, Haraway, Barad, Ahmad, Hayles and more… We will ask: who needs criticism? Who is afraid to be critiqued?