Cecilia Coronado Angulo, Ph.D. student at project 'Religion and Civil Society' of the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra, defended her thesis '' ''Crítica institucional a la razón instrumental.Institutional Critique of Instrumental Reason. The response of critical theory to Max Weber's prognosis.'. The research has been directed by Montserrat Herrero, professor of political Philosophy and principal investigator of the project 'Religion and Civil Society' of the ICS. 

The new doctor has researched on the study of instrumental reason taking as a basis the Weberian prognosis and going through the three generations of the Frankfurt School that rehearse their respective answers. goal All this with the aim of showing that "an effective critique of instrumental reason must be made from social institutions". The thesis has shown that religious institutions play an important role in this critique, together with the institution of the family and culture.

According to the author, the thesis admits three possible readings. First, it could be interpreted as a reconstruction and articulation of the different narratives about how the instrumentalization of the world has taken place. On the other hand, this work can be read as a narrative of the Frankfurt School philosophical tradition of instrumental reason. Finally, thesis can be understood as the search for some possibilities of 're-enchantment' of reason through social praxis that crystallizes in institutions.

This last reading is the one most closely identified with the original intention of research, since, according to Cecilia Coronado, the crucial idea of agreement is that "social institutions can provide an alternative model of reason through the exercise of their characteristic praxis. According to this idea, instances such as the family, politics, the market or religion offer spaces for the re-enchantment of reason from the very mode of human relationship that is exercised in them".

To show the validity of this hypothesis, Cecilia Coronado took as a starting point the Weberian prognosis of the rationalization process and the critique of this process by the most representative members of the Frankfurt School, since, historically, critical theory has been dedicated to the diagnosis of instrumental reason. "Hence, the guiding thread of the thesis is the analysis of the Frankfurt School tradition as it relates to instrumental reason," explained the new doctor.

The new doctor concluded that "a critical proposal focused on the recovery of social institutions, such as that of Axel Honneth, has the best credentials to respond to the rationalization of the world".