Theme 2

1. Dialectic of Enlightenment

a. What is "Enlightenment"?

I believe that enlightenment is when people uncover myths and the unknown with believable truth such as knowledge and facts. This can be complex discoveries where theories are suddenly believable because of better reasoning. The human mind does not feel comfortable with not knowing, we don’t accept it. That is why we always strive for enlightenment in the world we live in.

b. What is "dialectic"?

The dialectic methodology is a way of discover the truth by a discourse between different point of views. With reasoned arguments the truth will finally be unveiled 

c. What is "nominalism" and why is it an important concept in the text?

Nominalism is a direction within philosophy which argues that universal concepts does not say anything about the object but is merely not more than a name and that is the only thing that makes the objects related to each other. Universal concepts are nothing more than empty words. I believe it is important since Universal concepts often comes with pre assumptions about the object which not always is correct.

d. What is the meaning and function of "myth" in Adorno and Horkheimer's argument?

Myth is something that is used to explain the unexplainable and by doing so it has the same effect on the human mind as enlightenment does, it removes fear of the unknown and it creates dominant power out of belief.

2. "The Work of Art in the Age of Technical Reproductivity"

. 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?

The substructure is the tangibles that reflects upon the superstructure. It is the forces of production such as the labor that create things and the superstructure is the intangibles that exists in society such as beliefs, ideology and culture. The marxist perspective is to focus on the ones that are dominating the substructure and the rulers of technological reproductivity,

b. 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?

The new inventions of media, the way we can visualize and transport information, has widened our culture and our definition of culture which has a revolutionary effect on the masses. Media is much more powerful in the way it can affect people with the technological effects such as editing and sound. 

Benjamin does not approve of new media since he believes that it should not be possible to recreate art with technology . Adorno and Hockheimer  believes that it is important to be able to reproduce art since this makes it easier to spread knowledge to society which is important for the enlightenment.

c. 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).

Perception is something that is either experienced first hand or passed on to us thru stories and history. Perception is formed by everything we experience and since we have the possibility to experience stories as if it was an actual event we can understand how the characters in the stories feel and think. One example is Benjamin discussion about how the Roman art not only changed the culture, but also our perception.

d. What does Benjamin mean by the term "aura"? Are there different kinds of aura in natural objects compared to art objects?

It means that a work of art who has an aura is unique and authentic. Benjamin believes that reproduction of art makes this aura go away. I believe that the aura he talks about is the mystery about one object, the stories behind it and the feelings it creates. So yeah, there are different kinds of auras.