Reflection On Rational Agent Of Self-preservation In Dialectic Of Enlightenment

In the view of Horkheimer and Adorno,the representation of the rational power of the enlightenment subject makes it possible to explore the truth based on the rational self,nevertheless,the blindness shown by the society under the enlightenment and the irrationality of social individuals is inconsistent with the connotation of enlightenment rationality.The contradiction of the enlightenment subject is represented not only by the rational subject's suppression to self-life,but also by the collective oppression to the individuals.This paper attempted to find the construction of a ruling society by analyzing the symbolism of the ruler's maintenance of identity,and further elaborated the existence of two self-preserving rational subjects in a bourgeois civilization.According to the discussion in the Dialectics of Enlightenment,the ruler,as the individual prototype of the modern enlightened modern bourgeoisie,practiced the rationality of selfpreservation in the struggle against fate,but the separation of form and intention caused the object relationship to be replaced by the relationship of right,and the self also shifted from a rational practitioner to a ruler who conquered power.In addition,the recognition of individual life and the limited recognition of the individuals made the ruler transform the fear of death into a social force.Under this social force,the ruler not only obtained the preservation of life,but also took self as the transcendental self conquering natural right,the ruler used the mind to symbolize the identity,and the mind became a tool to govern society.At the same time,denying the transcendental self of the nature became the grasp of the self by the enlightened public under the symbol spirit of the ruler.The social facts exhibited by the individuals were the self-preserving subjects facing the options of survival or destruction.The deceiving methods that the ruler changed constantly can only prove that the natural right they fear has never been absent.