Theme 2 (Pre): Critical media studies

Dialectic of Enlightenment

1. What is "Enlightenment"?

Enlightenment can be understood in the widest sense as the advance of the thought with its main purpose to disenchant the world. Its aim is to "clear up" humanity and hence replacing fantasies and myths with knowledge. A guideline which can be followed is that anything which can't be resolved into numbers is just an illusion. Furthermore, enlightenment want to liberate human beings from fear and installing them as masters.

2. What is "Dialectic"?

Dialectic serves the establishment of truth. It is a method with its instrument of "rational debates" aiming to find the truth. Dialectic investigates the correctness of falseness and hence creates the truth. Ultimately, this means that each thing is what it is only by becoming what it is not.

3. What is "Nominalism" and why is it an important concept in the text?

Nominalism is a philosophical tendency according to which general or abstract terms and predicates exist, while it denies the existence of universal and abstract objects. It is an important concept in the text as nominalism goes hand in hand with the above mentioned enlightenment "anything which can't be resolved into numbers is an illusion". As Nominalism denies the existence of universal and abstract objects and only allows the existence of abstract terms and predicates, it can arise injustice while observing the world based on abstract terms and predicates, due to the deny of the existence of universal objects and abstracts. Historically this can be seen in the example "National Socialism", in which the denied universal and abstract objects where used by Hitler and not questioned by the society.

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

Prior to the enlightenment "myth" were the explanation to everything. With the arrival of the enlightenment, myths and fantasies were replaced with knowledge. Enlightenment has furthermore its ideal in the system from which everything is following, but misses out that there must be something given at one point. This existence tries enlightenment to fight, without noticing that through this fight it is going more and more back to mythology, from which it has never been able to escape.

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

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?

A superstructure is a structure, which is developing more slowly than the structure of a substructure. Where the substructure produces all sorts of products - in this context for example films, photographs and/or paintings - the superstructure is not directly linked to the production of products. However the substructure can be seen as the base of the superstructure, which shapes a certain ideology of the superstructure (e.g. Culture and/or Media).

As the substructure and superstructure are heavily depending on each other, i.e. shaping and maintaining each other, a rise of a new technology (e.g. photography) will drastically transform the superstructure (e.g. Culture and Media) through the output of the substructure. Subsequently, the change of ideology in the superstructure influences the substructure and thus a technological invention can have strong impacts on the art in its "traditional form".

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?

Culture definitely has revolutionary potentials according to Benjamin. Through its ability to display both artistic and scientific use - which usually were separated - the photography for example has for Benjamin revolutionary potential. Adorno and Horkheimer however believe more in the revolutionary power of technology.

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).

In the fifth century there was a new kind of perception developed. This was noticed by Riegl and Wickhoff in the 19th century, were they showed the significant, formal hallmark which characterized perception in late Roman times. However, the social transformations expressed by these changes of perception weren't shown at that time by them. Nevertheless, this is a good example how historical perception is working in contrary to the natural perception, which is the perception we have through our own senses.

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

Aura can be defined as the unique phenomena of a distance, however close it maybe. As aura is tied to presence and as there can be no replica of it, it vanishes as soon it is reproduced. An art object which misses authenticity, misses also presence and thus let vanish the aura, whereas no natural object is vulnerable to this.