| The end of the Second World War also meant the beginning of the development of a new industrial civilisation in Western capitalist societies,and at the same time,the question of how human beings can survive and live in the midst of modernisation has also been raised in stark relief.The idea of "Self-preservation" put forward by Horkheimer and Adorno in the Dialectic of Enlightenment points directly to the question of how human beings can survive and live in the paradox of modernity between enlightenment and myth.This is undoubtedly a contemporary inquiry into the dilemma of the subject of modernity,as well as a theoretical reflection on and practical exploration of the question of how to realise the modernisation of human beings.Specifically,while Enlightenment rationality and the enlightenment of rationality have enabled human subjects to continuously realise the knowledge and transformation of the objective world,and helped people tend to objective truth,they have also paradoxically contributed to the extreme expansion of rationality,leading to the double suppression of rationality on the group of life and the individual life.This is why Horkheimer and Adorno argue that reason,or thought,is transformed from a positive force that propels human beings to grasp the world of objects to an instrument of domination for the bourgeoisie to assert its superiority.In particular,the a priori self(rationality)gains legitimacy on a social scale under the rendering of ideology,and becomes a self-knowledge of universal proportions.Rational self-knowledge,in the proposition of survival and destruction,continues to confirm that the rulers have never really honoured the promise of enlightenment.This has led people to ask "what happened to Enlightenment" and "how the rationality of Enlightenment and the Enlightenment of rationality can be the dialectic of Enlightenment".On the basis of these questions,this paper attempts to take the concept of "Self-preservation" in the Dialectic of Enlightenment as the core to carry out the "Myth-Enlightenment-Re-enlightenment".Re-enlightenment",thus showing the historical,theoretical and practical logic of the idea of "Self-preservation" in the process of enlightenment.This paper argues that "Self-preservation" is intrinsically consistent with the Enlightenment and reason.On the one hand,under the transformation of the Enlightenment spirit,the Enlightenment did reveal the subject of rational and thinking human beings,informing the subject that human beings are not only human beings in the sense of nature that persist in space and time,but also human beings who exist in society;on the other hand,when the question of what has happened to the Enlightenment is being asked,instrumental rationality does cover up the status and value of human beings’ rational existence in an ever-expanding manner.In this regard,it is necessary to examine the "presence" of "Self-preservation" as the focus of modern man’s existence from the standpoint of dialectics,and to focus on the process of "myth-enlightenment-re-enlightenment",in order to reveal what is meant by "Self-preservation" in the logic of "from myth to enlightenment,and back to myth",so as to realise the critique of instrumental rationality,and at the same time,to highlight the real meaning of the dialectics of "Self-preservation".Excluding the introduction and conclusion,this paper is divided into four parts.The first part mainly sets up the ideological warp and woof of the theoretical formation of the concept of "Self-preservation",and summarises the thoughts of Horkheimer and Adorno on the basis of deep ploughing into the text,and then carries out the flow of ideas on the basis of this.On the basis of the text,we summarise Horkheimer’s and Adorno’s ideas on "Self-preservation" in the textual sense,and on this basis,we carry out the source and stream of ideas.That is,according to Horkheimer and Adorno,Spinoza’s endeavour of "Self-preservation" is the primary basis of virtue,and the prerequisite for anyone’s existence must be to organise his or her life in accordance with "Self-preservation",but as Enlightenment advances,"Self-preservation",as determined by reason,is shaped by the bourgeois individual’s urge to objectify into a destructive force,and in this paradoxical process Enlightenment is also heading towards its own destruction.In the excavation of deep texts,the three-dimensional construction of the warp and woof of thought highlights the historical,dialectical and practical logic embedded in the intersection of "Self-preservation",and the intersection of the three dimensions is the paradox between "Self-preservation" and self-destruction.After a general overview of the development of the idea of "Self-preservation",the second part focuses on the historical logic of the idea of "Self-preservation" from myth to enlightenment.In fact,enlightenment and myth are not diametrically opposed poles,but rather interpenetrating and dialectically entangled.On the one hand,myth is already enlightenment,and "Self-preservation" in myth is an animalistic,natural need,but when justice,bravery,and moderation express man’s desire for the good virtues of human life,they also portray the basic principles of enlightenment.The "Self-preservation" in the Enlightenment world also reveals the principles of scientific construction,the soul of the category table,and the strong belief in rationality or human nature,and people pay more attention to the importance of knowledge and the progress of science and technology under the preservation of the individual,so as to narrow the distance between human beings and nature,human beings and the society,and human beings and other people,and to greatly enrich the people’s material world and the spirit of the world.If the second part endeavours to clarify that the "Self-preservation" of the subject in the Enlightenment world accomplishes the intellectual prosperity and civilisation progress demanded by the bourgeoisie,then the third part begins to focus on the theoretical logic of "Self-preservation" — — the myth of the Enlightenment retrogression as a turn in the process of Enlightenment,in an attempt to gain insights into the theoretical generation of the idea of "Self-preservation" in the paradoxes of Enlightenment through the dialectic between "Self-preservation" and self-destruction.The compulsory nature of "Self-preservation" in the Enlightenment was revealed mainly through the functioning of political rule.In other words,the Enlightenment used the slogans of civilisation,progress and rationality to conceal the primitive instinct of "Self-preservation",and human rationality was equated with the rationality of "Self-preservation".In fact,Enlightenment rationality,in the opening up of the process of modernity,has already discarded its original ultimate claim,and has been reduced to instrumental rationality,and through mathematical calculations and machinations,has made nature subservient to mankind.In this way,"Self-preservation" has become an instrument of domination itself,as proclaimed by Horkheimer and Adorno.Under the double suppression of nature and man himself by society,the world has become a collection of catastrophes,and the thoroughly enlightened world has regressed to the barbarism of prehistory under the fervour of anthropocentrism: the form of objectification,which has been taken over completely by instrumental rationality,does not satisfy the need for "Self-preservation",but on the contrary,exhibits a tendency to exterminate mankind.The fourth part of the study focuses on the logic of the reality of the idea of "Self-preservation" in the Dialectic of Enlightenment.In Horkheimer and Adorno,the idea of "Self-preservation" has been plunged into the quagmire of self-destruction,sparing no effort to serve the hidden mechanism of power behind the Enlightenment.Horkheimer and Adorno attempted to expose the self-destructive path of the individual,and through a strong critique of instrumental rationality,they were able to achieve the implementation of the ultimate purpose of Enlightenment rationality,which is the unlimited aspiration and relentless pursuit of freedom.Therefore,this critical approach to instrumental rationality,which is based on the "return to value rationality",has received widespread attention from post-Enlightenment thinkers who either agree with it or question it,and who apply "Self-preservation" to their theoretical perspectives in order to explain how the human condition should be perfected,in an attempt to make up for the positive salvation that Horkheimer and Adorno,as they see it,lacked with their own theories. |
