simulo reviewed Eclipse of reason by Max Horkheimer
None
3 stars
Okay, this book had a tough start. I like Dewey; Horkheimer thinks that pragmatism is basically capitalist philosophy. The critique of capitalism and its influence on culture makes a lot of sense to me. However, for what should be done, the book is more vague. There seems to be a lot of love for old-fashioned bourgeois culture and art. David Graeber, I think, wrote, that the problem is not that some people have priviledge but that most don’t, so I have sympathies for wanting such a priviledge (ideally for everyone). However, almost everyone (except the real philosophers, maybe?) is trapped in the system that creates artificial, wrong demands. Also, Horkheimer seems to insist that it is terrible if there is any demand for philosophy to be accessible or even pedagogical. While “how the author comes across” should not be the yardstick for a book of philosophy, but thinking how snobbish …
Okay, this book had a tough start. I like Dewey; Horkheimer thinks that pragmatism is basically capitalist philosophy. The critique of capitalism and its influence on culture makes a lot of sense to me. However, for what should be done, the book is more vague. There seems to be a lot of love for old-fashioned bourgeois culture and art. David Graeber, I think, wrote, that the problem is not that some people have priviledge but that most don’t, so I have sympathies for wanting such a priviledge (ideally for everyone). However, almost everyone (except the real philosophers, maybe?) is trapped in the system that creates artificial, wrong demands. Also, Horkheimer seems to insist that it is terrible if there is any demand for philosophy to be accessible or even pedagogical. While “how the author comes across” should not be the yardstick for a book of philosophy, but thinking how snobbish it read, tinged large parts of the book.
