Research On Horkheimer’s Critical Theory Of Religion

In the contemporary society with deepening globalization,religion has increasingly become an international cultural phenomenon,and the trend of "religious fever" and "religious restoration" is gradually deepening.Therefore,it is necessary to carry out new research on religious ethics and thoughts which have great influence on the academic and theoretical circles at home and abroad.The critical theory of the Frankfurt School has exerted a great influence on the western Marxist academic circle.The religious critical thought contained in the social critical theory of Horkheimer,the founder of the Frankfurt School,also provides reference for the study of capitalist religion in the later generations.Therefore,in the contemporary society,in order to deal with the contradiction between religion and modernization,it is necessary to conduct a holistic analysis and research on Horkheimer’s and Marxism’s critical theory of religion under the guidance of scientific methodology.This paper will be divided into five chapters to make a comprehensive and specialized study for the religious criticism of Horkheimer.Chapter 1: Introduction,analyzes the research background and significance of Horkheimer’s critical theory of religion,summarizes the current research status of Horkheimer and Horkheimer’s critical theory of religion in the academic circle at home and abroad,and discusses the necessity and feasibility of further related research.Chapter 2: the development of religion and religious critical theory,mainly combing the basic concept of religion and the development of religious critical theory.This chapter is divided into two parts: one is a brief description of the concept and function of religion;The second is the chronological analysis of the impact of the Protestant Reformation on religion,the impact of Descartes’ instrumental rationality on religion,the attack of the bourgeois Enlightenment on religion,Freud’s refutation of religion from the perspective of psychoanalysis,and the criticism of religion by Marxist materialism.Chapter 3: the origin of Horkheimer’s critical theory of religion,examining the social background and theoretical sources of Horkheimer’s critical theory of religion.The social background is analyzed from three aspects: social history,scientific culture and philosophy of religion.The analysis of the background of philosophy of religion includes four parts: the legalization of religion in civil society and state,the privatization of religion,the secularization of religious content and the prevalence of fetishism.The theoretical sources are mainly explained from three aspects: the promotion of materialism,the influence of Schopenhauer’s metaphysical pessimism,and the inspiration of Marxism’s critical theory of religion.Chapter 4: The main content of Horkheimer’s critical theory of religion,mainly discusses the main content of Horkheimer’s critical theory of religion and its methodology of religious criticism.Hawk hammer content mainly from the religious criticism of the bourgeois religious criticism,criticism of the pragmatism of religion,the religious critique of positivism,and the hawk,hammer,led by the Frankfurt dialectical refactoring the institute members of religion,as a social phenomenon in capitalist society,cultural goods,means of exploitation and class boundaries and ruling tool of religion to engage in concrete is discussed,and the religious thin,shallow,curb illustrates the characteristics of the happiness,under the support of totalitarianism and idealism of hawk hammer religious criticism theory the main contents of the research.The methodology of Horkheimer’s religious criticism mainly revolves around his dialectical materialist methodology--deterministic negation.Chapter 5: An analysis of Horkheimer’s critical theory of religion,mainly on the basis of previous analysis and research,specifically including the theoretical characteristics,limitations and contemporary value of Horkheimer’s critical theory of religion.This paper expounds the theoretical characteristics of Horkheimer’s religious criticism from three aspects,and on the basis of analyzing its limitations,discusses the application value of Horkheimer’s religious criticism theory with modern significance,in order to provide reference for solving the religious problems existing in the contemporary society.