“At present, when the prevailing forms of society have become hindrances to the free expression of human powers, it is precisely the abstract branches of science, mathematics and theoretical physics, which ... offer a less distorted form of knowledge than other branches of science which are interwoven with the pattern of daily life, and the practicality of which seemingly testifies to their realistic character.” HumansCharacterFormExpressionOffersMathematicsPatternsPhysicsAbstractBranchesDaily LifeRealisticTheoreticalPrevailingHindrancePracticalityFree ExpressionHuman PowerTheoretical Physics Book:Critical Theory: Selected Essays Source: Critical Theory: Selected Essays
“Calvin's theocentric irrationalism eventually revealed itself as the cunning to technocratic reason which had to shape its human material. Misery and the poor laws did not suffice to drive men into the workshops of the early capitalistic era. The new spirit helped to supplement external pressures with a concern for wife and child to which the moral autonomy of the introverted subject in reality was tantamount.” MenHumansChildrenReasonRealityLawSpiritPoorMoralWifeSubjectsMaterialsShapesConcernPressureMiseryErasAutonomyCunningWorkshopsSupplementsIntroverted Author:Max Horkheimer
“The quality of the human that precludes identifying the individual with the class is 'metaphysical' and has no place in empiricist epistemology. The pigeon hole into which a man is shoved circumscribes his fate.” MenHumansIndividualQualityClassFateHolesMetaphysicalIdentifyingPigeonsEpistemology Author:Max Horkheimer
“Pragmatism , in trying to turn experimental physics into a prototype of all science and to model all spheres of intellectual life after the techniques of the laboratory, is the counterpart of modern industrialism, for which the factory is the prototype of human existence, and which models all branches of culture after production on the conveyor belt.” TryingHumansTurnsCultureExistenceModernIntellectualModelsProductionsTechniquePhysicsBranchesSpheresFactoriesBeltsLaboratoryHuman ExistencePragmatismCounterpartsPrototypeIntellectual Life Book:EPZ Eclipse of Reason Source: EPZ Eclipse of Reason
“The facts which our senses present to us are socially performed in two ways: through the historical character of the object perceived and through the historical character of the perceiving organ. Both are not simply natural; they are shaped by human activity, and yet the individual perceives himself as receptive and passive in the act of perception.” WayHumansTwoCharacterFactsIndividualNaturalObjectsActivityPerceptionHistoricalSensesPerceiveOrgansPassiveTwo WaysReceptiveHuman Activity Book:Critical Theory: Selected Essays Source: Critical Theory: Selected Essays