Immanent critique or Immanent criticism is a fundamental hermeneutical process of dealing with philosophical texts , works of art and the like, in which the object is subjected to a criticism on the basis of its own means, concepts and figures of thought as well as their performativity .
In contrast to standpoint criticism, in which the criticism opposes the text with a different position, Immanent critique is an examination of the argumentation of an existing position in the criticized text. For example, inadmissible conclusions, insufficient justification of a thesis or contradictions and inconsistencies of a theory are shown. Immanent criticism is widespread in philosophy today, but it is especially considered an important moment in critical theory .
Different philosophers are repeatedly given as authors and founders. Popper is said to have adopted Adorno's method of immanent criticism . Adorno, on the other hand, was inspired in this regard by Hegel's Phenomenology of the Spirit. Ultimately, however, it is a very old method of philosophy. Among other things, Baruch de Spinoza dealt with the problems of the interpretation of texts in 1677 and established principles: "The main rule of the interpretation of scriptures is that one should not ascribe any doctrine to scripture that does not result with complete clarity from its history" .
A well-known example of the consistent “assessment of works by their immanent criteria” is Walter Benjamin's book On the Critique of Violence .
Immanent criticism can be called a method of deconstruction , but it differs from Gilles Deleuze's philosophy of immanence .
