Horkheimer and Adorno’s Dialectic of Enlightenment: The Myth of Science

Is Horkheimer and Adorno’s Dialectic of Enlightenment still relevant? It was written in the midst of the second world war and aimed to explain why “humanity, instead of entering a truly human state, is sinking into a new kind of barbarism.” Is its prognosis of how “thought in its headlong rush into pragmatism is forfeiting its sublating character, and therefore its relation to truth” still accurate?

Enlightenment marks the triumph of reason over superstition with science being the leading light of knowledge, but when science becomes a scientistic dogma, it threatens the sphere of action, crippling our search for meaning and our humanity. Horkheimer and Adorno declare that there is a “necessity for enlightenment to reflect on itself if humanity is not to be totally betrayed.” We need the courage to challenge the dogma of scientism and overthrow this myth of science which Enlightenment has created. We need to think critically, questioning even what seems to be solid ground such as the enterprise of science, without falling prey to complete scepticism which will then be yet another dogma.

Graphics: Sluispark, Leuven, Belgium