Dialectic of Enlightenment became more negativistic than its authors originally planned.
Evidence
The
Memorandum' shows not only that work on the dialectics project was to have been based on interdisciplinary collaboration but that the emphasis in the opening chapters was originally to have been different from what was in fact produced. The liberating characteristics of enlightenment and pragmatism were to have been elaborated to the same extent as the repressive aspects. … I am afraid it is the most difficult text I ever wrote. Apart from that it sounds somewhat negativistic and I am now trying to overcome this. We should not appear as those who just deplore the effects of pragmatism. I am reluctant, however, to simply add a more positive paragraph with the melody:But after all rationalism and pragmatism are not so bad.’ The intransigent analysis as accomplished in this first chapter seems in itself to be a better assertion of the positive function of rational intelligence than anything one could say in order to play down the attack on traditional logics [sic] and the philosophies which are connected with it. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1341
Categorization
- XREF: The famous pessimism of Dialectic of Enlightenment was not the original intent — the authors explicitly planned to elaborate enlightenment’s liberating qualities equally; connects to the commonly-read book as usually encountered. — connects to: Dialectic of Enlightenment was republished with its anti-capitalist vocabulary softened. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1362; Contingent publishing disappointments shaped what the Dialectic of Enlightenment volume contained. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1361; Dialectic of Enlightenment conflates two distinct concepts of enlightenment forced together. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1395
- QUESTION: Horkheimer’s argument that intransigent analysis itself asserts the positive function of reason — does this justify one-sided critique as a method? Worth chasing.
Broader Connections
- Dialectic of Enlightenment was republished with its anti-capitalist vocabulary softened.
#expands(0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1362 - Contingent publishing disappointments shaped what the Dialectic of Enlightenment volume contained.
#corroborates(0.75) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1361 - Dialectic of Enlightenment conflates two distinct concepts of enlightenment forced together.
#qualifies(0.70) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1395