Enlightenment Dialectics -- Philosophical Fragments (Frontier of the Century)

Author: (German) Horkheimer, (German) Adorno, translated by Qu Jingdong, Cao Weidong
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-04-01
Features: As a renowned German philosopher and advocate of the Frankfurt School, Horkheimer's "Critical Theory" holds a pivotal position in German intellectual circles. This book is one of his major works. As the authors themselves stated, the book explores the theme of various trends in cultural progress leading to its opposite. The book attempts to reveal this theme by describing American social phenomena in the 1930s and 40s. The totalitarian unification trend it reveals, though interrupted, has not been completely ended; its threat remains pervasive in authoritarianism and war. The book once diagnosed that enlightenment had transformed into positivism, had turned into a myth of facts, and had become the unity of intellect and an antagonistic spirit. All these diagnoses have been fully proven today. Our historical concept does not assume that they have been overcome, nor does it pursue superficial understanding from a positivist perspective. As a critique of philosophy, it does not intend to abandon philosophy.