adorno horkheimer dialectic of enlightenment

Since Enlightenment 'dissolve the injustice of the old inequality' (Adorno, p.12) of church, nobility, Bourgeoisie and the people, of mastery and serfdom with reason as its mediator, we face the problem of its side effects and its results, and - most importantly - its limits. Still, Enlightenment is seen to be a determining part of human nature, of “what we are, what we think, what we do.” (Foucault, p.32) We still live (and an interesting question here would be: will we always live?) within the ‘shadow’ of the eighteenth century Enlightenment, even though the new era of modernity or post-modernity has been introduced. Its origin, its constitution and its goal are wildly disputed, unknown or undefined, whatever point of view might here be adequate. While we live in a post-modern World - having the age of Enlightenment, the eighteenth century, far in our rear view mirror - the concept of Enlightenment is still a basic philosophical task.

Introduction to Enlightenment in Modernity This the illustration has in common with text. We shall see the illustration as a supplemental form of expressing the same idea, where, of course, unsaid or unsignified has to be extended by the reader's own way of thought. In this sense the illustration is rather a blueprint than a building. We cannot grasp the ‘one’ meaning of it in a glance, as for an illustration.), we still can see that the simplifying character of an illustration stands in contrast to the vagueness of a text's complexity.

Though we acknowledge that one sign cannot express as much as text could (which is a more complex temporal sign chain, since a text is made up of several meanings, which enhance, supplement, specify or contradict a former one.

Since semiotics teaches us that language (English) is only one sign-system among many, we can think of the illustrations as a separate language, without words. The illustrations are not meant to be simplifications. Introduction to Enlightenment in ModernityĪdorno and Horkheimer, Concepts of EnlightenmentĬonclusion – Modernity, Ethos, Knowledge, Dialectic

Adorno horkheimer dialectic of enlightenment