The Critical Theory Reading Group is an interdisciplinary colloquy composed of faculty and graduate students who meet weekly to discuss readings in contemporary critical theory. These readings are selected from a broad range of humanities and social science disciplines, including literary criticism, sociology, psychology, philosophy, history, and political science. The group's discussions focus primarily on competing models of inquiry and interpretation in the humanities and social sciences and on the moral and political values which these models imply. When it is possible, the colloquy brings the theorists whom it is reading to campus for lectures and discussions.

The group has also sponsored team taught classes which address some of the issues that have figured prominently in discussion. In a course entitled "The Legacy of the Enlightenment," for instance, they presented students with some of the main arguments between supporters and opponents of Enlightenment social and political ideals. Because the group has been meeting weekly for over ten years, it has been able to sustain a dialogue with both continuity and interdisciplinary breadth.

We are currently reading David Owen's Maturity and Modernity; Nietzsche, Weber, Foucault, and the Ambivalence of Reason, published by Routledge. Our weekly meetings are normally in McClung Tower 1210-1211 @ 4:00pm on Thursdays. Any one interested in finding out more information about this reading group or our current reading should email Allen Dunn at ardunn@utk.edu