On Dependency, Caring and Criticism

In this, I address what I believe to be one common limitation of the three papers of this section — papers that are rather different in style and in the level of analysis. The common limitation is their lack of interest in criticizing theoretical approaches in terms of their explanatory goals and purposes. Discussing this limitation does not at all imply the suggestion that the authors should have written papers with a different focus. As I will argue at some length, they pursue complementary forms of critique which are interesting in their own right. Nevertheless, the neglect of the immanent dimension of critique just sketched may have costs whenever an argument hinges on the proper identification of the conceptual framework under scrutiny.