Instrumental reason’s refinement is what destroys rational civilization

Evidence

But, if this were so, how was it possible to speak of the self-destruction of reason? How could it be maintained, as it was in `Reason and Self-Preservation’, that the self was slipping away beyond the reach of self-preservation, that rational civilization was perishing from the refinement of reason? — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1307

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The paradox that reason’s own refinement (perfecting instrumentality) is what erodes the self and civilization is the central riddle of the Frankfurt School dialectics project — genuinely hard to state in one sentence.
• XREF: connects to: Thought must recover its origin as an organ of nature against instrumentalization — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1465; Instrumental rationality’s dominance results from system-lifeworld uncoupling, not from reason’s inherent dialectic. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 395; Industrial progress destroys the conception of the person as a bearer of reason (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Instrumental reason escapes its instrumental role to dominate society outright. #expands (0.85) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 227
• Instrumental rationality’s dominance results from system-lifeworld uncoupling, not from reason’s inherent dialectic. #contradicts (0.80) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 395
• Colonial power instrumentalized reason and thereby corrupted modernity’s promise #qualifies (0.78) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 615
• Thought must recover its origin as an organ of nature against instrumentalization #qualifies (0.75) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1465
• Instrumental rationality cannot prevent mass atrocities and normalizes social engineering. #corroborates (0.75) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 83
• Modern civilization centralizes rather than abolishes violence #corroborates (0.72) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 284
• Industrial progress destroys the conception of the person as a bearer of reason #corroborates (0.70)