The enlightenment was an era when a wave of reason, logic and rationality swept through Europe during the 18th century. Instead of explaining the world with myths and made-up stories the followers of enlightenment tried to explain the world through reason and rationality. The grand idea is, according to Adorno och Horkheimer’s Dialectic of Enlightenment to “liberate humans of fear and installing them as masters”.
2) What is “Dialectic”?
Dialectic a method of argument for resolving disagreement between two people that have different opinions about a certain subject or topic. The purpose of the method is to find out was is the truth and what isn’t.
3) What is “Nominalism” and why is it an important concept in the text?
Nominalism is a philosophical point of view that believes that abstract objects and universal objects (objects that do not exist in time and space) does not exist.This means that not all what we describe can be categorized by a recognized entity. I think it is an important concept in this text since the text is about the enlightenment which opposes a lot of metaphysical explanations that are not based on empiricism.
4) What is the meaning and function of “myth” in Adorno and Horkheimer’s argument?
According to the book Dialectic of Enlightenment myths as the projection of subjective properties onto nature. Meaning its purpose is to (without empirical evidence) explain nature in order for human to feel secure since not knowing is a state of mind we don’t want to find ourselves in.
1) In the beginning of the essay, Benjamin talks about the relation between "superstructure" and "substructure" in the capitalist order of production. What do the concepts "superstructure" and "substructure" mean in this context and what is the point of analyzing cultural production from a Marxist perspective?
In this concept I believe that substructure is things that are in direct correlation with production while superstructure are things that are more indirectly involved with production. The relation between them, as I understand them, is that a superstructure is made of multiple substructures. A superstructure is much more complicated than a substructure and takes more time to develop. The point of analyzing cultural production is that it can tell you which way our culture is heading.
2) Does culture have revolutionary potentials (according to Benjamin)? If so, describe these potentials. Does Benjamin's perspective differ from the perspective of Adorno & Horkheimer in this regard?
I believe that according to Benjamin culture does have potentials that can be regarded as revolutionary. Benjamin discusses technological advancements and how they change society and thereby culture. Benjamin discusses photography versus painting and discusses their major differences and if both can call themself “art”. Benjamin’s opinion is that a painter has a distance from reality and tries to interpret it while a photographer captures multiple fragments that he/she combines together. The cultural shift from painting to photography has therefore changed the impact on us. I like this quote from the text:
“I can no longer think what I want to think. My thoughts have been replaced by moving images”
I would say it is clear that Benjamin disapproves the cultural changes in artform since we no longer have to interpret and reflect over the artform, someone else does it for us. Benjamins opinion differs from Adorno and Horkheimer. I believe they saw technological advancements as new ways of dominating nature.
“What human beings seek to learn from nature is how to use it to dominate wholly both it and human beings. Nothing else counts.”
3) Benjamin discusses how people perceive the world through the senses and argues that this perception can be both naturally and historically determined. What does this mean? Give some examples of historically determined perception (from Benjamin's essay and/or other contexts).
A historically determined perception means that it is affected by the current society, politics and culture etc. A natural perception is one that is not affected by the current external circumstances but it’s a perception that is inherent in every human. One example is something that we discussed last theme: heliocentrism. Before Copernicus discovered that the earth orbits the sun the human perception was that earth was the centre of everything and therefore a geocentric worldview seems correct.
4) What does Benjamin mean by the term "aura"? Are there different kinds of aura in natural objects compared to art object.
According to Benjamin, an aura is a property of an object or artform and when this object or artform is reproduced through mechanical reproduction its aura is lost. Aura is tied to presence and it itself cannot be copied. For example like a photograph of a painting, The photograph it makes the painting’s existence non-unique.
“...reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition. By making many reproductions it substitutes a plurality of copies for a unique existence.”
Benjamin discusses the aura of theater and film. His opinion is that aura is lost in the art form that is motion picture. Since aura is tied to presence I suppose he means that a play has a place in time and space while a motion picture will always be exactly the same and doesn’t have a place in time. I think there is a different kind of aura between a natural object and an art object.
3) What is “Nominalism” and why is it an important concept in the text?
Nominalism is a philosophical point of view that believes that abstract objects and universal objects (objects that do not exist in time and space) does not exist.This means that not all what we describe can be categorized by a recognized entity. I think it is an important concept in this text since the text is about the enlightenment which opposes a lot of metaphysical explanations that are not based on empiricism.
4) What is the meaning and function of “myth” in Adorno and Horkheimer’s argument?
According to the book Dialectic of Enlightenment myths as the projection of subjective properties onto nature. Meaning its purpose is to (without empirical evidence) explain nature in order for human to feel secure since not knowing is a state of mind we don’t want to find ourselves in.
1) In the beginning of the essay, Benjamin talks about the relation between "superstructure" and "substructure" in the capitalist order of production. What do the concepts "superstructure" and "substructure" mean in this context and what is the point of analyzing cultural production from a Marxist perspective?
In this concept I believe that substructure is things that are in direct correlation with production while superstructure are things that are more indirectly involved with production. The relation between them, as I understand them, is that a superstructure is made of multiple substructures. A superstructure is much more complicated than a substructure and takes more time to develop. The point of analyzing cultural production is that it can tell you which way our culture is heading.
2) Does culture have revolutionary potentials (according to Benjamin)? If so, describe these potentials. Does Benjamin's perspective differ from the perspective of Adorno & Horkheimer in this regard?
I believe that according to Benjamin culture does have potentials that can be regarded as revolutionary. Benjamin discusses technological advancements and how they change society and thereby culture. Benjamin discusses photography versus painting and discusses their major differences and if both can call themself “art”. Benjamin’s opinion is that a painter has a distance from reality and tries to interpret it while a photographer captures multiple fragments that he/she combines together. The cultural shift from painting to photography has therefore changed the impact on us. I like this quote from the text:
“I can no longer think what I want to think. My thoughts have been replaced by moving images”
I would say it is clear that Benjamin disapproves the cultural changes in artform since we no longer have to interpret and reflect over the artform, someone else does it for us. Benjamins opinion differs from Adorno and Horkheimer. I believe they saw technological advancements as new ways of dominating nature.
“What human beings seek to learn from nature is how to use it to dominate wholly both it and human beings. Nothing else counts.”
3) Benjamin discusses how people perceive the world through the senses and argues that this perception can be both naturally and historically determined. What does this mean? Give some examples of historically determined perception (from Benjamin's essay and/or other contexts).
A historically determined perception means that it is affected by the current society, politics and culture etc. A natural perception is one that is not affected by the current external circumstances but it’s a perception that is inherent in every human. One example is something that we discussed last theme: heliocentrism. Before Copernicus discovered that the earth orbits the sun the human perception was that earth was the centre of everything and therefore a geocentric worldview seems correct.
4) What does Benjamin mean by the term "aura"? Are there different kinds of aura in natural objects compared to art object.
According to Benjamin, an aura is a property of an object or artform and when this object or artform is reproduced through mechanical reproduction its aura is lost. Aura is tied to presence and it itself cannot be copied. For example like a photograph of a painting, The photograph it makes the painting’s existence non-unique.
“...reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition. By making many reproductions it substitutes a plurality of copies for a unique existence.”
Benjamin discusses the aura of theater and film. His opinion is that aura is lost in the art form that is motion picture. Since aura is tied to presence I suppose he means that a play has a place in time and space while a motion picture will always be exactly the same and doesn’t have a place in time. I think there is a different kind of aura between a natural object and an art object.
Inga kommentarer:
Skicka en kommentar