Theme #2 - Pre-reflections

Theme #2 pre-reflections

What is Enlightenment?

Enlightenment, broadly speaking, is a shift in human values. Before the enlightenment much of what was not known to man was often seen a mysterious and of certain power. With the enlightenment these mysterious and unknown things eventually became known, and with that, a growth in power from the people themselves arose.

Science had a great part in the enlightenment in the sense that we started to critically observe things in our universe, the unknown was now something unanswered, rather than mysterious. Or as ”the father of experimental philosophy” Bacon puts it: ”the mind, conquering superstition, is to rule over disenchanted nature”. Disenchanted meaning a world free of unsolvable matters (my interpretation).

What is the meaning and function of “myth” in Adorno and Horkheimer’s argument?

The concept of myth is used to show that, despite us not living in dark world where myths regulate our beliefs anymore, they still have similarities to our modern way of scientific thinking. Much like how myths were used as a framework for our beliefs, stating what is to believe and not, so does thoughts and beliefs based on science and enlightenment work too. We create our own system within the new laws of science, much like we based our laws on mythical beliefs and facts. So in some sense, the enlightenment originates from the myth, but based on other criteria.

The meaning of myth in this chapter is, in my opinion, to distinguish thoughts and beliefs enlightenment to make a greater distinction between the two ways we base our judgements on.

What are the “old” and “new” media that are discussed in the Dialectic of Enlightenment?

Adorno talks about culture industry being “graphically expressed” in radio and films. The old media would refer to the old way of spreading a message, the printed news being one of them. The “new” on the other hand would be both the radio and especially the tv since it hadn’t been around for that long at the time of writing. Adorno also say that these new ways of producing media is based on the ideology to “legitimize the trash” it ultimately want us to consume.

What is meant by “culture industry”?

Culture industry is what Adorno saw as the ”not so bright” future of the enlightenment. Culture is described as something infectious whose sole ideology is to legitimize trash that can generate revenue for the ”industry”. The industry refers to the illusion of a benevolent part of the society that make lives better for the people in general. In reality though, Adorno sees them as the ones with the raw power. Puppeteering the people, controlling their needs. There is a quote in this chapter that puts his thoughts quite concrete: ”Something is provided for everyone so that no one can escape”.

So, for me, Adorno sees the culture industry as mass deception, as a way to exploit the fact that we had an enlightenment. By knowing how people work in the most fundamental way, we can introduce the ”illusion” of free will, given the the ”will” is based on options solely provided by the industry. Even though we might not agree with the industry, we will ultimately comply with these conditions in lack of other choices.

What is the relationship between mass media and “mass deception”, according to Adorno and Horkheimer?

Since the mass media is so finely tuned to the receivers it leaves nothing more to want. It answers more questions than it gives. Leaving us questionless and indifferent to what we were recently exposed to. If we go to a movie in the cinema, we leave feeling contempt, rather that hungry for questions reaching far beyond the plot of the movie. This is somewhat a deception: us, thinking we have what we need. The result is that we only feel that we need is what is being delivered to us, which is Not, as it happens to be, chosen by us. To further underline the relationship between mass deception and mass media is a quote from the text: “...the power of the culture industry lies in its unity with fabricated need...” which basically incapsulate the idea Not to give its audience a wide spectrum of option, rather just a handful. This is, in my opinion, to deceive.

Please identify one or two concepts/terms that you find particularly interesting. Motivate your choice.

I found the concept of myth to be quite entertaining to read about. For me at least, I didn’t have the same connotation of what the relation between myth and enlightenment might be. In my world, myth was often thought to be something that was unnatural al belonged in storybooks, but I came to realize that myth, in this context is referred to as knowledge which is based on relations to which one yet don’t grasp. If we can’t conceive the underlying concept of things, it may as well be mythical in the way it works or functions. When we actually question and criticize somethings existence and learn about it, the myth evaporates and become real. The curtains arise and we have our enlightenment.