Abstract _Dialectic of Enlightenment_ is undoubtedly the most influential publication of the
Frankfurt School of Critical Theory. Written during the Second World War and circulated
privately, it appeared in a printed edition in Amsterdam in 1947." What we had set out to do,"
the authors write in the Preface," was nothing less than to explain why humanity, instead of
entering a truly human state, is sinking into a new kind of barbarism." Yet the work goes far
beyond a mere critique of contemporary events. Historically remote developments, indeed …

The secondary literature on Dialectic of Enlightenment is vast but most contributions focus
on one isolated aspect or chapter of the book. Much of it is meta-theoretical and often
sidesteps detailed textual analysis. There is a general tendency to overstate the extent to
which Dialectic of Enlightenment constitutes a turning point in Critical Theory. Schmid Noerr,
one of the most authoritative commentators in the German-language literature, asserts that
in his writings from the 1930s Horkheimer had seemed more optimistic about the possibility …