Putting Enlightenment reason on trial

Horkheimer and Adorno wrote after fascism, world war, and mass culture had shattered faith in inevitable progress. Their Dialectic of Enlightenment argues that the drive to make the world fully knowable and controllable can turn reason into domination.

Through instrumental reason, the culture industry, and self-optimization, Yang Zhao asks why advanced modern societies produce conformity and control—and what forms of reflection might preserve human freedom.