The article critically examines the relationship between the goal of humanizing the practice of social criticism and the rejection of a pattern of critique that was hegemonic among the oppo-nents of the status quo from the Enlightenment until few decades ago. In the end, it is argued for an interpretation of the critical stance that sees it less as a theory than as a passion shared by all those who are able to sense the chronic pathologies of social life and denounce their ab-surdity and intolerability.
