Eclipse of Reason (Horkheimer)

Eclipse of Reason

Cover of the first edition
Author	Max Horkheimer
Subject	Philosophy
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Publication date	1947
Media type	Print

Part of a series on the
Frankfurt School
Major works Dialectic of Enlightenment Eclipse of Reason Eros and Civilization Escape from Freedom Minima Moralia Negative Dialectics One-Dimensional Man Reason and Revolution The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere The Theory of Communicative Action "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"
Notable theorists Adorno Apel Benjamin Fromm Forst Grünberg Geuss Habermas Honneth Horkheimer Jaeggi Kluge Kracauer Kirchheimer Kompridis Kuhlmann Löwenthal Marcuse McCarthy Negt Neumann Offe Pollock Schmidt Sohn-Rethel Wellmer Wingert
Important concepts Advanced capitalism Antipositivism Communicative rationality Critical theory Culture industry Dialectic Legitimation crisis Non-identity Popular culture Praxis Privatism Psychoanalysis
Related topics Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory Freudo-Marxism Marxist humanism Recognition Reification Social alienation Western Marxism
Philosophy portal Society portal
v t e

Eclipse of Reason is a 1947 book by Max Horkheimer, a German philosopher and sociologist who was a key figure in the Frankfurt School of critical theory. In the book, Horkheimer argues that in modernity the concept of reason has been reduced to a mere instrument for achieving practical goals, rather than a means of understanding objective truth. He contends that this "eclipse of reason" has led to the rise of authoritarianism, as well as the dominance of a manipulative "culture industry" that serves the interests of those in power. Horkheimer asserts that to counter these trends, it is necessary to develop a more substantive and critical form of reason that is grounded in a commitment to human emancipation and the pursuit of a more just society.^[1][2]