Michael J. Thompson | William Paterson University (original) (raw)

Papers by Michael J. Thompson

Forthcoming in: Critical Encounters with Habermas' Legal Theory, J. Abromeit, M. Dimick, and P. Linden-Retek (eds.). Leiden: Brill (forthcoming)

I lay out a critique of Habermas' deliberative and procedural model of democracy as laid out in h... more I lay out a critique of Habermas' deliberative and procedural model of democracy as laid out in his impressive Between Facts and Norms before going on to show its deficits and suggest an alternative rooted in a blend of critical theory with the radical republican tradition in political theory. As a result, I hope to show an alternative practical political path for critical theory that has concrete, practical ends in view.

Forthcoming in Jeffrey Sacks and Pascal Sauvayre (eds.) “A Psychoanalytic Response to Paul Ricoeur’s Invitation: Long Overdue (Bloomsbury)

I argue that Ricoeur's ideas about narrative can lead us toward a theory of the psyche that sees ... more I argue that Ricoeur's ideas about narrative can lead us toward a theory of the psyche that sees it as structured normatively, that is, as a system of conscious and unconscious processual rules that are rooted in the specific ways that the mind has been shaped via interpersonal processes of relational development. I want to suggest that narrative is not only, as Ricoeur argues, a horizon from which a sense of self emerges, but that it can be seen as constituting a mode of mental functioning itself, that is, as a capacity for organizing experience as well as a dynamic that organizes thought itself. The thesis of a norm-governed psyche has much in common with Ricoeur's contention that narrative is, taking after Aristotle, a form of cohering disparate events into a linear form of meaning that can itself be interpreted and used to make sense of experience. I try to show how a theory of a norm-governed psyche can help us understand certain kinds of pathologies in thinking in patients and ways of intervening.

Devenires: Revista de Filosofía y Filosofía de la Cultura, vol. 50 (2024): 57-86, 2024

En este artículo presento una crítica de las corrientes contemporáneas de la teoría crítica posme... more En este artículo presento una crítica de las corrientes contemporáneas de la teoría crítica posmetafísica. Sostengo que, a la hora de entender las teorías normativas que éstas han desarrollado y por qué son insuficientes como teoría crítica de la sociedad, hay que tener en cuenta los cambios en la economía política. Concluyo presentando un paradigma alternativo: el de una ontología social crítica que tenga en cuenta la estructura completa de las necesidades y capacidades humanas.

Forthcoming in: Erich Fromm and Left Strategy: New Paths Toward Radical Transformation, Joe Fantauzzi, Maor Levitin, and Terry Maley (eds.)

I believe a new form of authoritarianism is in our midst. To show its features and dynamics, I ex... more I believe a new form of authoritarianism is in our midst. To show its features and dynamics, I explore Erich Fromm’s concept of “group narcissism” as a central feature of right-wing political culture and what we can call the regressive mind. The conditions of late capitalism provide a socio-economic context for a rise in anxiety resulting from shifts in social and economic hierarchies. As racial and ethnic dynamics have been altered by the expansion of liberalism on the one hand as well as increased immigration on the other, so too have the gradient in economic hierarchies thereby enhancing the experience of anxiety. This anxiety leads to reactionary search for meaning, but also to a regression of the individual ego toward more primitive states of consciousness. For Fromm, group narcissism was a way to ameliorate the anxiety caused by the isolation felt by the atomized self. Whereas mid-20th century liberalism sought racial inclusion, the dynamic of late capitalism increased inequality, creating a new context of anxiety and a new thirst for group narcissism and authoritarian politics.

Open Philosophy, vol. 7, (2024): 1-24, 2024

I explore the roots of ontological thinking in the late thought of Georg Lukács via the developme... more I explore the roots of ontological thinking in the late thought of Georg Lukács via the development of the nature of praxis in German Idealism and the thought of Marx. I contend that the thesis of spontaneous, self-creation as well as social relatedness are both core themes in German Idealism that achieve definitive form in Marx's thought. In effect, I argue that the human capacities for relatedness and the formation of relations with others paired with the teleological structure of human practical agency constitutes a crucial ontological ground for critical theory. It is this that Lukács focuses on in his later ontological writings and which can be used as a means to reorient contemporary critical theory and critical philosophy which has been dominated by postmetaphysical and neo-Idealist currents in recent decades.

Theory, Culture and Society (forthcoming)

I explore the ways that the debate between Herbert Marcuse and Erich Fromm relates to the possibi... more I explore the ways that the debate between Herbert Marcuse and Erich Fromm relates to the possibility of informing both a critical psychoanalysis as well as how psychoanalysis can fit into critical social theory. I argue that Fromm's emphasis on the social nature of the mind and the self is a more attractive template that Marcuse's more anachronistic reading of Freud and his metapsychology. Fromm grants centrality to the issue of praxis as central to the nature of critique, both in terms of one's relation to oneself in psychoanalytic terms as well as to the dynamics and structures of the social world of which we are a part.

International Forum of Psychoanalysis, vol. 33, no. 2 (2024): 139-148

This paper explores Erich Fromm’s concept of humanism arguing that it provides us with a unified ... more This paper explores Erich Fromm’s concept of humanism arguing that it provides us with a unified theory for both clinical work as well as social criticism. Fromm humanistic ideas are rooted in a structure of thought that sees our existence, our ontology as human beings as constituted by our inherent capacities for both relatedness as well as positing ends and purposes in the world. By cultivating self-awareness of these dual capacities, we can achieve a state of freedom, a self-consciousness of our capacity to shape our reality as opposed to conforming ourselves to it. In this way, Fromm’s ideas constitute a critical humanism that can be realized in the world via self- and social transformation and not merely an abstract set of principles or concepts

Forthcoming in Daniel Burston and Kurt Jacobsen (eds.) Authoritarianism in All of Its Guises: Right, Left and Center. (New York: Routledge, 2025).

I argue that current trends in "progressive" left politics has been characterized by a move from ... more I argue that current trends in "progressive" left politics has been characterized by a move from solidarity to group-identity. This results from the ravages of neoliberal and cybernetic society's effects on social relations and self-development giving rise to a weakened, withered ego that I call the "anaclitic self." In order to stave off the anxiety that affects the self, the fetish of identity is used as a means to feel included within a group, in relatedness that the ego needs for self-coherence. This form of group-membership also regresses the power of thinking and makes dogmatic modes of mind more pervasive. This is distinguished from theories of Left-Wing Authoritarianism.

Dustin J. Byrd and Seyed Javad Miri (eds.) Sigmund Freud as a Critical Social Theorist: Psychoanalysis and the Neurotic in Contemporary Society. (Leiden: Brill: 2025): 208-239. , 2023

In this paper, I will suggest that a new synthesis of Freud and Marx is possible along the lines ... more In this paper, I will suggest that a new synthesis of Freud and Marx is possible along the lines of a theory of how we can de-reify consciousness. Both point to a structure of selfawareness of ourselves as practical, relational and poietic beings. Both Freud and Marx give us ample means to be able to open consciousness up to critical reason and I will suggest that one way that they converge on this project is the capacity of opening up thought to the essentially creative dimensions of the psyche (Freud) and of human praxis (Marx). Freud is able to show how the unconscious hides unformulated, non-symbolized thoughts, desires and patterns of mind that entrap us in certain pathologies. I introduce the concept of what I call the "psychoontological" that is, the ways that the self's transformation is dependent on a social-ontological transformation; the ways that this transformation of self depends upon external transformation for it to be realized and fulfilled. Marx shows how this can manifest itself in the fetish of commodities as well as the reification of consciousness. I want to show how this pathology of consciousness can be exploded by demonstrating the ways that Freud and Marx are after that which is repressed and which also has power over the self and, by extension, society as well. I will review the ways that previous critical theorists have sought to merge Freud and Marx before endeavoring to show that a new synthesis is possible along the lines of a critical social ontology that is able to capture both the inner subjective world (Freud) as well as the collective, sociopractical world (Marx).

Forthcoming in: Matthew H. Bowker and Amy Buzby (eds.) Getting Lost: Psycho-Political Withdrawal in the Covidian Era

My thesis in this paper is that anxiety plays a central role in the shaping of modern subjectivit... more My thesis in this paper is that anxiety plays a central role in the shaping of modern subjectivity and agency. My argument is that anxiety in contemporary society is distinct from the forms of anxiety that plagued industrial society in that it is a more complete and totalizing phenomenon that acts to constrict selfhood and regress the ego to more primitive states. As a result, the modern self loses its capacities for civic life and consciousness as anxiety grips the psyche. In what follows, I will reconstruct the theory of anxiety as a relational, and hence social phenomenon, that interpenetrates with the development of the self. Next, I will explore the thesis that a civic self is a specific manifestation of our psychic and agentic capacity for cognition and affect for “others,” one that, as it is reduced, is replaced with a need for security and group narcissism. After this, I will explore how the dynamics of contemporary society (what I call the “cybernetic society”) enhances and totalizes anxiety in such a way that withdrawal from civic life gives further impetus to the psyche’s need for connection to stave off existential angst, giving more force to strivings for group identification and exclusion of others.

Philosophical Forum, vol. 54, nos. 1-2 (2023): 61-78

I argue in this paper for a critical social ontology, or an approach to theorizing social reality... more I argue in this paper for a critical social ontology, or an approach to theorizing social reality and social institutions that is more than descriptive of social reality, but is also able to provide practical reasoning with an ontological dimension for judgment. At the heart of this idea is a different take on social metaphysics from most standard current accounts in that it begins with empirical, phylogenetic capacities of human beings for social practices (realizing abstract thought in the world) as well as relationality (the need for attachments to others). The combination of these two essential human capacities, what I call the practical-relational nexus, is generative of more complex social reality. The ontogeny of any social reality is the result of the ways that this practical-relational nexus has been organized and shaped by external social structures and systems, themselves the product of certain kinds of social power. I then explore the metaphysics of social power before considering the ways that this approach to social metaphysics can inform practical reasoning with the capacity for social and political criticism.

Denis Chevrier-Bosseau and Tom Bunyard (eds.) Critical Theory Today: On the Limits and Relevance of an Intellectual Tradition. (New York: Palgrave, 2022): 1-18.

Argues that contemporary critical theory is the product of a welfare-statist political economy th... more Argues that contemporary critical theory is the product of a welfare-statist political economy that is unable to deal with the post-neoliberal shifts in capitalist society and culture. Argues that postmetaphysics is a failed paradigm for contemporary capitalist societies and that a new paradigm for critical theory, what i call a critical social ontology, is more suited to the task of restoring the core aims of critical theory: that of rational social critique and of consciousness for social change.

Metodo: International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy, vol. 9, no. 2 (2021): 417-445, 2021

In this paper, I outline the ways that reification as a pathology of what I call "cybernetic soci... more In this paper, I outline the ways that reification as a pathology of what I call "cybernetic society" shapes the fundamental structures of the self and our shared social reality. Whereas the classical theory of reification was a diagnostic attempt to understand the failure of class consciousness, I believe we must push this thesis further to show how is fundamentally an ontological and not a merely cognitive or epistemic concern. By this I mean that it is a pathology of consciousness as well as social praxis and, as such, infects the ontological substrates of social reality. In effect, reification is a collective rather than merely subjective phenomenon. I explore this dialectic between our subjective and social dimensions of being to show how reification actively shapes self and world. I end with a discussion of how this theory of reification as an ontological concept can be used to overcome it via what I term "ontological coherence," or the capacity of the self to reflect dialectically on the shapes of sociality that one inhabits, opening it up to evaluative reflection and critique.

Published in J. Halley and H. Dahms (eds.) The Centrality of Sociality: Responses to Michael Brown's The Concept of the Social in Uniting the Humanities and Social Sciences. (Emerald Press, 2023): 149-173.

This chapter develops a sketch o fa critical social ontology and contrasts it to a theory of soc... more This chapter develops a sketch o fa critical social ontology and contrasts it to a
theory of sociality as presented in the work of Michael Brown. I argue that the
ontology of our social forms requires categories for understanding them
descriptively, functionally as well as in evaluative terms. I contend that a
theory of power is needed for an understanding of the ontology of our social
forms and that this can contribute to the construction of a more critical social
ontology. I argue that a critical social ontology is a more attractive and
satisfying paradigm for critical theory than current post-metaphysical
approaches that emphasize discourse, recognition or other neo-Idealistic
aspects of human sociality.

In Heinz Sünker (ed.) Theodor W. Adorno: Aktualität und Perspektiven seiner Kritischen Theorie (Verlag Westfäliches Dampfboot, 2020): 49-71., 2020

Der Text argumentiert, dass Adornos Konzept einer 'Negativen Dialektik' zu einer Form von moralis... more Der Text argumentiert, dass Adornos Konzept einer 'Negativen Dialektik' zu einer Form von moralischem Solipsismus führt, dem es daran mangelt, die Kategorie 'Praxis' als zent-rales Mittel von Kritik und sozialer Transformation zu fassen. Zweitens argumentiere ich, dass dies Konzept Adornos nur dann gerettet werden kann, wenn wir es zu einer kritischen Metaphysik verschmelzen, so dass die Bedeutung der Hegelschen Idee von Dialektik da-rin liegt, als ontologisch verstandenes Konzept einem bloß epistemischen zu opponieren. Adornos Negativismus kann so helfen, eine kritische soziale Ontologie zu fassen, indem verdinglichte Formen des Denkens aufgebrochen werden. Adorno mangelt es an dieser so-zialen Ontologie, die uns mit einer praxisorientierten Form immanenter Kritik und einem zwingenden Konzept von sozialer Transformation ausstatten kann.

In Neal Harris (ed.) Pathology Diagnosis and Social Research: New Applications and Explorations (New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2021): 113-140.

My approach sees social pathology as defects in our social ontology: that means being able to see... more My approach sees social pathology as defects in our social ontology: that means being able to see social reason as a matter of the ways that our social relations, processes and purposes are able to realize freedom-enhancing forms of social agency and collective forms of life that engender robust forms of interdependence oriented toward the cultivation of individual self-realization. This thesis entails that there is a way to understand society itself as an ontological entity, one that has distinctive features that can be the object of judgment, critique and transformation. It means that there is more to social reality than norms and practices, more than the pragmatic dimension, and that there are rational ways to conceive of our ontogenetic processes of development. The ontology of social facts is a dense complex of norms and practices that produce specific social facts and social artifacts that have causal power over the contents of our lives.

Berlin Journal of Critical Theory vol. 7. no. 1 (2023): 5-39, 2023

My thesis here is two-fold. First, that Adorno’s critique of conceptual rationality (in its Hegel... more My thesis here is two-fold. First, that Adorno’s critique of conceptual rationality (in its Hegelian form) misconstrues its critical potential and forces a lapse into epistemic and ethical solipsism. Second, that a reconsideration of Hegel’s doctrine of the concept as an ontological category can help us utilize negative thinking in a more compelling and politically relevant way. Adorno’s project for a negative dialectics leads us not toward a critical form of reason with political (and hence, transformative) potential, but, rather, toward a retreat from the actual mechanisms that prop up defective forms of social reality. In addition, in his radical skepticism of the doctrine of the concept, Adorno also misses the chance to develop a critical theory of the good and a kind of critical practical reason that has the power to re-shape our sociality and social reality.

Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie, vol. 68, no. 2 (2020): 217-240

Examines the nature of reification as seen through the theory of the normative theory of consciou... more Examines the nature of reification as seen through the theory of the normative theory of consciousness and its effects on ethical and political reflection.

Direito e Praxis, 2021

Este ensaio traça u m quadro nor mativo para defender a política e os princípios do socialismo de... more Este ensaio traça u m quadro nor mativo para defender a política e os princípios do socialismo democrático. Ele argumenta que a tradição do socialismo democrático pode ser melhor entendida como cons istindo na conexão de três esferas da realidade social: a material, a política e a cultural . Cada um também possui um respectivo princípio que os organiza, o da interdependência cooperativa, da não subordinação e da auto realização. O artigo termina considerando como os movimentos sociais podem ver suas próprias lutas em termos da estrutur a d essas três esferas.

Published in M. Thompson and G. Zucker (eds.) An Inheritance for Our Times: Principles and Politics of Democratic Socialism (New York: OR Books, 2020): 13-28.

This essay charts a normative framework to defend the politics and principles of democratic socia... more This essay charts a normative framework to defend the politics and principles of democratic socialism. It argues that the tradition of democratic socialism can be best understood as consisting of the connection of three spheres of social reality: the material, the political and the cultural. Each also possesses a respective principle that organizes them, that of cooperative interdependence, non-subordination, and self-realization. The paper ends by considering how social movements can see their own struggles in terms of the structure of these three spheres.