Thought-Factory.net Philosophical Conversations Public Opinion philosophy.com Junk for code
hegel
"When philosophy paints its grey in grey then has a shape of life grown old. By philosophy's grey in grey it cannot be rejuvenated but only understood. The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of dusk." -- G.W.F. Hegel, 'Preface', Philosophy of Right.
RECENT ENTRIES
SEARCH
ARCHIVES
Library
Links - weblogs
Links - Political Rationalities
Links - Resources: Philosophy
Public Discussion
Resources
Cafe Philosophy
Philosophy Centres
Links - Resources: Other
Links - Web Connections
Other
www.thought-factory.net
'Constant revolutionizing of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainity and agitation distinquish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones ... All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned.' Marx

Destruction in an enlightened age « Previous | |Next »
March 20, 2004

Schmitt is putting forth a stark thesis about economic rationality in modernity.

He is saying that an economic/technical rationality promises salvation---a heaven on earth--- but such an enlightening reason actually delivers destruction and despair, which may not be recognized as such.

A good example of this in Australia is the clear felling of Tasmania's old growth forests. The promise is that this will deliver heaven on earth by way of economic growth, jobs and rising incomes. It results in ecological devastation. This is not recognized as such by the politicians.

This overlaps with the key thesis of Adorno and Horkheimer in their Dialectic of Enlightenment. This thesis is stated thus:


"In the most general sense of progressive thought, the Enlightenment has always aimed at liberating men from fear and establishing their sovereignty. Yet the fully enlightened earth radiates disaster triumphant. "

It is this thesis that distinquishes Anglo-American philosophy from the continental one.

| Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 11:42 PM | | Comments (1)
Comments

Comments

Quite - anglo-american philosophy seems to 'legitimate' enlightenment deception by positing the instrumental rationale as an absolute; continental thought then, has the tools to be reflective of this.

When thinking about the history of ideas in secular terms, analytical philosophy seems deeply medieval.