Pathologies of the modern paradigm and the refugee question: a critical analysis

Abstract This article examines the internal contradictions and social pathologies generated by the modern paradigm, focusing especially on the issue of migration. Using epistemological critiques from thinkers like Adorno, Kuhn, Popper, Hayek, and the Frankfurt School, the paper argues that modernity’s promise of universal rationality and scientific progress has frequently resulted in structures that are exclusionary, homogenizing, and sometimes even totalitarian. The paper then links these theoretical debates to contemporary migration. It emphasizes how refugee women—especially those facing the combined challenges of gender and displacement—experience complex layers of social invisibility and discursive erasure. By critically applying recognition theory and discourse analysis, the study highlights how modernity’s promise of inclusion frequently hides the actual mechanisms of marginalization. In this part, the article demonstrates that these marginalization processes are linked to the scientific premises of the modern paradigm and considers the migration problem as an example of the pathology of the modern paradigm.