In late 2023, Martin Shuster conceived and established the Philosophy and Critical Theory Lab (PaCT Lab) with the aim of developing novel pursuits, approaches, and projects in philosophy and critical theory, especially with an eye towards expanding our understanding of what each of these can be. The PaCT Lab orients itself around an ethos of experimentation in the midst of practical and theoretical inquiry. It officially opened in January of 2024.
A fundamental feature of the PaCT Lab is a belief that neither philosophy nor critical theory belong solely in (or to) the academy. The perspectives and approaches involved in either of these endeavors can continue to be broadened, and in ways that may not be obvious at the present moment (hence the stress on experimentation). While housed in a university setting, the lab sees philosophy and critical theory as more than merely preparation for additional schooling or for the challenges of the workplace (even as benefits for these endeavors are not denied).
The PaCT Lab is oriented around the belief that such benefits, including the training of additional scholars or educators and the cultivation of their work capacities, must always also be supplemented by an explicit commitment to the cultivation of citizens who are informed and creative. In addition to the well-known rewards of a university education that stresses critical thinking, deep global contextualization, and familiarity with a variety of perspectives, the PaCT Lab suggests that comfort with experimentation, the launching new projects, the pursuit of novel initiatives, and the creation of unique possibilities are all crucial potentialities worth cultivating. Call this spiritual or critical entrepreneurship (hearkening back to the 15th century origins of the word, an origin that prioritized a spirit of daring, referring not solely to an interest in market affairs). Such citizens, in addition to possessing honed critical faculties, will have broadened imaginative and work capacities. The environment of a lab–with its promise of experimentation and its etymological root of labor–situates itself as a central node for such aims and desires.