Adorno and Horkheimer's argument that Enlightenment reason turns nature, then other people, into objects known only as things to manipulate.
In lecture order, as Marci Shore presents each view. The time opens that minute of the lecture on YouTube.
Enlightenment reason knows nature only as something to manipulate, and the price of the power it gains is alienation from the very nature it dominates.
Put simply Adorno: Enlightenment reason sees nature only as something to control and use. The price of that power is that we become estranged from the very nature we dominate.
Once nature is an object, people become objects too: mastery over nature slides into mastery over other humans, then over oneself, producing the herd a fascist leader commands.
Put simply Adorno: once nature is treated as a mere object, people are treated that way too. Mastering nature slides into mastering other people, then ourselves, producing the herd a fascist leader commands.
Enlightenment's totalitarian streak is built in, not a detour: a project designed to emancipate individuals arrives at a manipulated collective whose unity is each individual's negation.
Put simply Adorno: the Enlightenment's totalitarian streak is built in, not a wrong turn. A project meant to free individuals ends in a manipulated mass whose unity depends on canceling out each individual.
1 link between claims that both use the term. Each shows the earlier claim, then the later one that answers it. “Our inference” marks a link Shore does not state outright.
AdornoEnlightenment reason knows nature only as something to manipulate, and the price of the power it gains is alienation from the very nature it dominates. L14 · 45:41
AdornoOnce nature is an object, people become objects too: mastery over nature slides into mastery over other humans, then over oneself, producing the herd a fascist leader commands. L14 · 47:44
Domination of nature as object dialectically ricochets into domination of other people, then of the self.
Throughlines that pass through one of these claims.
Terms that appear in the same claims.