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Dialectic of Enlightenment: Critical Theory and the Messianic Light
Dialectic of Enlightenment is a thought-provoking introduction to the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory. Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno first identified the "dialectic of enlightenment" when fascism was on the rampage in Europe. They warned that enlightened reason and societal freedom threaten to revert into blindness and oppression. Herbert Marcuse and the young Jürgen Habermas elaborated their Critical Theory, declaring that post-war society has not escaped this dilemma, blinded as it is by ideology, pseudo-democracy, and mass manipulation.
Critical Theory aims to unmask modern reason and liberate society. But a fundamental question keeps coming how can this critique of modernity remain viable within a repressive societal system? Is reason in the modern world indeed doomed to self-destruct? Does rationality inevitably lead to domination and oppression? Jacob Klapwijk argues that the dialectic of enlightenment proves to be a faith, a mythical faith encouraging resignation and despair. Instead we need a wholesome reason, one inspired by a messianic faith.
Dialectic of Enlightenment is an important book for students of philosophy, theology, and the social sciences. It invites them to a renewed criticism of the mythological traits and self-destructive tendencies of modern reason. It also offers a perspective of hope to all who share the author's concern about the direction of today's globalizing world.
"Klapwijk presents a rich account of the various ways in which critical theorists--specifically Marcuse, Horkheimer, Adorno, and Habermas--reconstructed the legacy of the enlightenment for their respective social theories. He gives a convincing account of how key the enlightenment was for each, but also how ambivalent each author was towards its legacy. Particularly helpful are Klapwijk's own critical assessments of the problems of constructing social theory upon such pre-theoretical grounds and his offer of a radicalized view of Adorno's messianism as an alternative."
--James Swindal
Philosophy Department
Duquesne University
"His study demonstrates a deep continuity among Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse, and the early Habermas, amid their differences. Klapwijk indicates how this continuity is a source of both strengths and weaknesses. The challenge for his readers is to reach their own assessments about the Frankfurt School's provocative and penetrating account of the dialectic of enlightenment."
--from the Foreword by Lambert Zuidervaart
Jacob Klapwijk is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Philosophy, Free University, Amsterdam. He is an expert on the philosophy of history, and in recent years also involved in the creation-evolution debate. He is the author of Purpose in the Living World? Creation and Emergent Evolution (2009).
Critical Theory aims to unmask modern reason and liberate society. But a fundamental question keeps coming how can this critique of modernity remain viable within a repressive societal system? Is reason in the modern world indeed doomed to self-destruct? Does rationality inevitably lead to domination and oppression? Jacob Klapwijk argues that the dialectic of enlightenment proves to be a faith, a mythical faith encouraging resignation and despair. Instead we need a wholesome reason, one inspired by a messianic faith.
Dialectic of Enlightenment is an important book for students of philosophy, theology, and the social sciences. It invites them to a renewed criticism of the mythological traits and self-destructive tendencies of modern reason. It also offers a perspective of hope to all who share the author's concern about the direction of today's globalizing world.
"Klapwijk presents a rich account of the various ways in which critical theorists--specifically Marcuse, Horkheimer, Adorno, and Habermas--reconstructed the legacy of the enlightenment for their respective social theories. He gives a convincing account of how key the enlightenment was for each, but also how ambivalent each author was towards its legacy. Particularly helpful are Klapwijk's own critical assessments of the problems of constructing social theory upon such pre-theoretical grounds and his offer of a radicalized view of Adorno's messianism as an alternative."
--James Swindal
Philosophy Department
Duquesne University
"His study demonstrates a deep continuity among Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse, and the early Habermas, amid their differences. Klapwijk indicates how this continuity is a source of both strengths and weaknesses. The challenge for his readers is to reach their own assessments about the Frankfurt School's provocative and penetrating account of the dialectic of enlightenment."
--from the Foreword by Lambert Zuidervaart
Jacob Klapwijk is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Philosophy, Free University, Amsterdam. He is an expert on the philosophy of history, and in recent years also involved in the creation-evolution debate. He is the author of Purpose in the Living World? Creation and Emergent Evolution (2009).
126 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 28, 2010
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April 2, 2013
While I think it's a great book, I don't think it achieves what the blurb states: to introduce the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory to readers. Nor do I believe this is what Klapwijk even intended. He's not trying to write a book for people experiencing Marcuse, Habermas, Adorno, and Horkheimer (with a bit of Hegel, Marx and Freud thrown in) for the first time. He's writing about the interesting conflict between the enlightenment - a framing of the world around reason - and the Messianic light - a framing of the world around our yearning search for meaning - via the writings of these guys.
This isn't a criticism of Klapwijk: I blame the publishers for this disconnect. If this was for new readers, for starters you'd move the last chapter to the beginning and explain what a) Critical Theory is and b) what Adorno means when he talks about the Messianic light. As it is, anyone picking this up and think "Hey, what is this stuff anyway?" might well be frustrated by chapter two.
This is a shame, because Critical Theory is awesome, and life would be better if more people were interested in it. As Klapwijk explains, it "[digs] right under the foundations of those basic democratic structures of the so-called free world that were always taken for granted. Stripping away the ideological veneer compels society to think again about the aims of education, about the bases of law and the state, about the management of technology and the economy, indeed about the fundamental direction that Western culture and society have long been taking and that has proved to be more and more aggressive and imperious." (pp. 86/87)
This isn't a criticism of Klapwijk: I blame the publishers for this disconnect. If this was for new readers, for starters you'd move the last chapter to the beginning and explain what a) Critical Theory is and b) what Adorno means when he talks about the Messianic light. As it is, anyone picking this up and think "Hey, what is this stuff anyway?" might well be frustrated by chapter two.
This is a shame, because Critical Theory is awesome, and life would be better if more people were interested in it. As Klapwijk explains, it "[digs] right under the foundations of those basic democratic structures of the so-called free world that were always taken for granted. Stripping away the ideological veneer compels society to think again about the aims of education, about the bases of law and the state, about the management of technology and the economy, indeed about the fundamental direction that Western culture and society have long been taking and that has proved to be more and more aggressive and imperious." (pp. 86/87)
Displaying 1 of 1 review