“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
“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
“Reason has never really directed social reality, but now reason has been so thoroughly purged of any specific trend or preference that it has finally renounced even the task of passing judgment on man's actions and way of life. Reason has turned them over for ultimate sanction to the conflicting interests to which our world actually seems abandoned.” MenWorldWayHas BeensReasonRealitySeemsActionSocialInterestJudgmentTasksUltimatePassingPassingsOur WorldTrendsAbandonedPreferenceSanctionsPassing Judgment Book:Eclipse of Reason Source: Eclipse of Reason
“In most cases, to be reasonable means not to be obstinate, which in turn points to conformity with reality as it is. The principle of adjustment is taken for granted. When the idea of reason was conceived, it was intended to achieve more than the mere regulation of the relation between means and ends: it was regarded as the instrument for understanding the ends, for determining them.” MeanIdeasEndsReasonRealityTurnsUnderstandingPrinciplesCasesTakenAchieveRelationInstrumentsMereGrantedReasonableConformityRegulationAdjustmentTaken For GrantedObstinate Book:Eclipse of Reason Source: Eclipse of Reason
“Subjective reason ... is inclined to abandon the fight with religion by setting up two different brackets, one for science and philosophy, and one for institutionalized mythology, thus recognizing both of them. For the philosophy of objective reason there is no such way out. Since it hold to the concept of objective truth, it must take a positive or a negative stand with regard to the content of established religion.” WayTwoDifferentReasonPhilosophyFightingConceptsNegativeRegardMythologySettingObjectivesSettingsAbandonRecognizingSubjectiveBracketsObjective TruthScience And Philosophy Book:Eclipse of Reason Source: Eclipse of Reason
“Reason as an organ for perceiving the true nature of reality and determining the guiding principles of our lives has come to be regarded as obsolete.” ReasonRealityPrinciplesOur LivesOrgansObsoleteTrue NatureGuiding Principles Book:Eclipse of Reason Source: Eclipse of Reason
“As soon as a thought or word becomes a tool, one can dispense with actually 'thinking' it, that is, with going through the logical acts involved in verbal formulation of it. As has been pointed out, often and correctly, the advantage of mathematics - the model of all neo-positivistic thinking - lies in just this 'intellectual economy.' Complicated logical operations are carried out without actual performance of the intellectual acts upon which the mathematical and logical symbols are based. ... Reason ... becomes a fetish, a magic entity that is accepted rather than intellectually experienced.” ThinkingHas BeensReasonLyingEconomyMagicInvolvedIntellectualModelsAdvantageToolsPerformancesMathematicsComplicatedAcceptedSymbolsMathematicalOperationsLogicalEntityFetish Author:Max Horkheimer
“The more the concept of reason becomes emasculated, the more easily it lends itself to ideological manipulation and to propagation of even the most blatant lies. ... Subjective reason conforms to anything.” ReasonLyingConceptsManipulationConformSubjectiveIdeologicalPropagationBlatant Lies Book:EPZ Eclipse of Reason Source: EPZ 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
“When even the dictators of today appeal to reason, they mean that they possess the most tanks. They were rational enough to build them; others should be rational enough to yield to them.” ShouldMeanReasonEnoughTodayRationalAppealsYieldDictatorTanks Author:Max Horkheimer
