Refutation, Dialectics and the Transcendental. The Speculative Roots of Critical Theory

Dialectical refutation, used by Plato and Aristotle to justify first principles, is taken up by Descartes and Kant to determine the nature of the transcendental. Hegel collects the legacy of this dialectical tradition and transforms it in the fundamental character of his conception of the absolute. His philosophy takes on the dual aspect of positive exposition and critical refutation. The critical theory of Horkheimer and Adorno proposes the procedure of determined negation both as a tool of social criticism and as a royal road to gain access to the truth. Habermas's work is characterized by his explicit recovery of the refutation procedure, which is followed by a renewed and transformed conception of the transcendental. This allows a rethinking of dialectics within the coordinates of dialogics.