“If the subjectivist view hold true, thinking cannot be of any help in determining the desirability of any goal in itself. The acceptability of ideals, the criteria for our actions and beliefs, the leading principles of ethics and politics, all our ultimate decisions are made to depend upon factors other than reason. They are supposed to be matters of choice and predilection, and it has become meaningless to speak of truth in making practical, moral or esthetic decisions.” IfsThinkingMadeMatterReasonHelpingActionChoicesBeliefSpeakGoalDecisionViewsMoralPrinciplesDependsEthicsIdealsUltimatePracticalsFactorsSupposed To BeMeaninglessOur ActionsCriteriaDesirability Author:Max Horkheimer
“In the face of the idea that truth might afford the opposite of satisfaction and turn out to be completely shocking to humanity at any given historical moment, ... the fathers of pragmatism made the satisfaction of the subject the criterion of truth. For such a doctrine there is no possibility of rejecting or even criticizing any species of belief that is enjoyed by its adherents.” MadeIdeasMomentsMightFacesHumanityTurnsFatherBeliefGivenSubjectsPossibilityOppositesHistoricalSpeciesSatisfactionDoctrineEnjoyedCriticizeShockingCriteriaRejectingPragmatism Book:Eclipse of Reason Source: Eclipse of Reason
“Now that science has helped us to overcome the awe of the unknown in nature, we are the slaves of social pressures of our own making. When called upon to act independently, we cry for patterns, systems, and authorities. If by enlightenment and intellectual progress we mean the freeing of man from superstitious belief in evil forces, in demons and fairies, in blind fate--in short, the emancipation from fear--then denunciation of what is currently called reason is the greatest service reason can render.” IfsMenMeanReasonEvilBeliefForceSocialFateProgressCryAuthorityIntellectualEnlightenmentOvercomingPressureBlindSlavePatternsDemonFairyAweEmancipationSuperstitiousSocial Pressure Book:EPZ Eclipse of Reason Source: EPZ Eclipse of Reason
“A revolutionary career does not lead to banquets and honorary titles, interesting research and professorial wages. It leads to misery, disgrace, ingratitude, prison and a voyage into the unknown, illuminated by only an almost superhuman belief.” DoeBeliefInterestingCareersResearchPrisonMiseryTitlesRevolutionaryWagesDisgraceVoyagesIngratitudeSuperhumanBanquetsHonorary Author:Max Horkheimer
