Objectifying thought commits the mental violence that later becomes physical violence
Evidence
Objectifying (like sick) thought contains the despotism of the subjective purpose which is hostile to the thing and forgets the thing itself, thus committing the mental act of violence which is later put into practice. The unconditional realism of civilized humanity, which culminates in Fascism, is a special case of paranoiac delusion which dehumanizes nature and finally the nations themselves. — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 153
Categorization
- DEFINE: Defines the key critical-theory mechanism in which the cognitive violence of objectivity prefigures and enables real-world violence.
- SEED: Could be an essay on how seemingly neutral objectivity/enumerative thinking in tech and bureaucracy prefigures dehumanization, tracking Adorno’s claim into the present.
- XREF: connects to: Violence is force that marks and transforms its object — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1817; Violence includes psychic and representational forms beyond physical force — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1819; Violence includes psychic, emotional, and conceptual harm, not only physical injury — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1819 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Violence includes psychic and representational forms beyond physical force
#expands(0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1819 - Violence includes psychic, emotional, and conceptual harm, not only physical injury
#expands(0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1819 - Violence is force that marks and transforms its object
#expands(0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1817 - Bruiseless verbal abuse escapes moral control yet causes enduring psychic wounds
#exemplifies(0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 480 - Collective shaming discipline is psychologically violent though non-corporal
#exemplifies(0.72) — , The Rod and the Child, 5618