The Masters of Suspicion

Publisher Description

Paul RicA ur famously coined the phrase 'the masters of suspicion' to describe Marx, Nietzsche and Freud. In fact, they are all dependent on their predecessor Ludwig Feuerbach. The point of the book is to provide a critical edge to the education of undergraduates in Arts and Social Sciences.Each of the four, in very different ways, uncovers the social construction of what is taken to be natural, given. This leads to a heightened consciousness about the assumed in society, the taken for granted. Consciousness of social construction invites a response of suspicion. This suspicion deconstructs the foundations of western culture, religious, philosophical, economic, political and psychological. Seeing through institutions, conventions, procedures which we are encouraged to accept unquestioningly can be an exciting experience which raises confidence with consciousness.In turn, the suspectors are suspected. Those who have learned from them go on to deconstruct the theories that they have constructed.