What Is 'Critical' About Critical Theory?

The idea of a critical theory is a dominant force in tertiary education, and has become an integral part of the pursuit of higher knowledge. Competing ideas have thereby become standard bearers in that critical theory acts as a measure of true understanding. The only problem, however, is that many of the distinct theories similarly answering to the description raise two related questions – namely, ‘what is a critical theory?’ and what is ‘critical’ about the ‘theory’ in question? The following research provides an answer by questioning the idea’s standard and/or truth-bearing via the problematic connection between criteria and critique.