How to Read Adorno and Horkheimer's Dialectic of Enlightenment

by Lawrence, Nicholas R. R.

• ISBN13: 9780745330341
• ISBN10: 0745330347
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2015-04-22
• Publisher: Pluto Press

Summary

Adorno and Horkheimer's Dialectic of Enlightenment is a formative text in the canon of critical theory, and a classic of twentieth-century thought. Nick Lawrence's excellent guide aids students in their study of this central work.We now take for granted that the so-called 'enlightenment' is a complicated and contested idea, yet Adorno and Horkheimer were among the first to show how scientific discourse - based upon the truth value of 'facts' and measurements - has and continues to have damaging repercussions upon a whole range of social, scholarly and cultural phenomena. This book introduces students to the context within which Dialectic of Enlightenment was written, giving special attention to the intellectual debates surrounding its composition. Key concepts from the text - such as 'enlightenment', 'myth' and 'the domination of nature' - are described and contextualised.How to Read Adorno and Horkheimer's Dialectic of Enlightenment is an invaluable tool for students and lecturers who need to engage with this key text.

Author Biography

Nicholas R. Lawrence is Associate Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick.

Table of Contents

1. The Concept of Enlightenment: Introduction

2. Excursus I: Odysseus or Myth and Enlightenment

3. Excursus II: Juliette or Enlightenment and Morality

4. The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception

5. Elements of Anti-Semitism: Limits of Enlightenment

6. Notes, Sketches and Adorno’s Minima Moralia