Critique and emancipation as normative axes of social theory and education

Abstract

In this article, we argue that critique and emancipation are two unavoidable horizons for popular education and social movements. As epistemological foundations of social theory, critique and emancipation shed light on the theoretical and practical tasks of progressive social struggles in contemporary society. We reconstruct the historical and political roots of critical philosophical frameworks embedding the denunciation of the current distress, as well as the prospects to overcome it, in order to establish a normative conceptual scheme for social movements with an emphasis on popular education.