THE CRITIQUE OF REASON IN HUMAN AND NATURAL SCIENCES IN THE BOOK THE ECLIPSE OF REASON BY MAX HORKHEIMER

Abstract

The article analyzes the criticism of Max Horkheimer the concept of reason related to human and natural sciences in the way it was established as a regulatory body in the history of science and philosophy in the West. The central thesis of Horkheimer is that there is a fundamental difference between the theory that the reason is an inherent principle of reality, and the doctrine that reason is a subjective faculty of the mind. It analyzes how Horkheimer tries to show that rational perspective inunanent led to dogmatic conceptions in some disciplines of the humanities and as the positivist perspective leads to some epistemological problems related to how one conceives the relationship between science and truth. It concludes with the criticism Horkheimer the possibility opened up by the positivist view, the use of science, or scientistic discourse as a political instrument of domination in contemporary society.