Philosophy and the Crisis of Reason in Horkheimer's Thought

Document Type : The Quarterly Jornal

Author

Assistant Professor, Institute for Research on Humanities and Cultural Studies

Abstract

This essay is concerned with Max Horkheimer’s notion of philosophy in the age of subjective reason. Horkheimer distinguishes between subjective reason and objective reason and argues that the dominance of the former in contemporary Western thought is the mark of what he calls the crisis of reason. According to Horkheimer, the contradiction between the relativistic and absolutist notions of truth is but one manifestation of this crisis. In response, he proposes his idea of philosophy. This essay reviews Horkheimer’s analysis of the two types of reason and examines the contradictions associated with the preponderance of one over the other. In particular, this essay is concerned with whether or not Horkheimer’s notion of philosophy is capable of establishing an account of truth that transcends the contradiction of absolutism and relativism, that is, an account of truth that does not fall into the abyss of absolutism while at the same time escaping the danger of relativism.

Keywords

References

1. Abromeit, John (2011), Max Horkheimer and the Foundations of the Frankfurt School, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2. Hegel, G. W. F. (1988), The Difference Between Fichte’s and Schelling’s System of Philosophy, H. S. Harris & W. Cerf, Trans., Albany: State Univ of New York Press.
3. __________ (2010), The Science of Logic, Trans. G. Di Giovanni, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4. Horkheimer, Max & Theodor W. Adorno, (2002), Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments, Trans. E. Jephcott, Stanford: Stanford University Press.
5. Horkheimer, Max (1974), “Schopenhauer Today,” Critique of Instrumental Reason: Lectures and Essays Since the End of WWII, Trans. M. O’Connell, New York: Seabury Press.
6. __________ (1978), “On the Problem of Truth,” The Essential Frankfurt Reader, A. Arato & E. Gebhardt (eds.), New York: Urizen Books.
7. __________ (1982a), “Materialism and Metaphysics,” Critical Theory: Selected Essays, New York: Continuum Pub. Corp.
8. __________ (1982b), “Notes on Science and the Crisis,” Critical Theory: Selected Essays, New York: Continuum Pub. Corp.
9. __________ (1993a), “Egoism and Freedom Movements: On the Anthropology of the Bourgeois Era,” Between Philosophy and Social Science: Selected Early Writings, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
10. __________ (1993b), “Materialism and Morality,” Between Philosophy and Social Science: Selected Early Writings, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
11. __________ (1993c), “The Present Situation of Social Philosophy and the Tasks of an Institute for Social Research,” Between Philosophy and Social Science: Selected Early Writings, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
12. __________ (2005), “On Bergson’s Metaphysics of Time,” Radical Philosophy, No. 131 (9).
13. __________ (2007), Eclipse of Reason, Le Vergne: Read Books Ltd.
14. __________ (1982c), “Traditional and Critical Theory,” Critical Theory: Selected Essays, New York: Continuum Pub. Corp.
15. Jay, Martin (1996), The Dialectical Imagination: a History of the Frankfurt School and the Institute of Social Research, 1923-1950, Berkeley: University of California Press.
16. Kant, Immanuel (2009), Critique of Pure Reason, P. Guyer & A. W. Wood, (Trans.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
17. McCarthy, Tom (1989), “Contra Relativism: a Thought-Experiment,” Zeitschrift Für Philosophische Forschung, No. 43 (2).
18. Wiggershaus, Rolf (1995), The Frankfurt School: Its History, Theories, and Political Significance, Trans. M. Robertson, Cambridge: MIT Press.
19. Wolin, Richard (1987) “Critical Theory and the Dialectic of Rationalism,” New German Critique, No. 41.
20. __________ (2006), The Frankfurt School Revisited: and Other Essays on Politics and Society, New York: Routledge.

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics