Meaning of CRITICAL THEORY:
Critical theory is most often associated with a twentieth century school on contemporary Marxism, the Frankfurt school although, the idea of criticism is clearly much older. Criticism simply means the use of negative judgment to study a phenomenon. As it has evolved, criticism also came to mean understanding and disclosing all that lies beneath the surface of social life and also that how and to what extent it contradicts the surface reality. During Reformation, biblical criticism became a weapon to question the existing authority system and to establish a new order. G.W.F. Hegel understood human history as a progression and transformation of human awareness. Criticism for Hegel became a positive tool for unravelling of the existing forms of beliefs and their subsequent transformation. Karl Marx and F. Engels later used criticism to understand the inherent contradictions of the capitalist society and the role of religion as a factor in the bourgeoisie dominance. However, for Marx and Engels, critical assessment was the initial step for political action (praxis).