Reason and internalization of the sacrifice: the reception of Nietzsche's philosophy in Horkheimer's thought in the 1930's and 1940's

• Grant number: 15/24880-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: June 01, 2016
• End date: November 01, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - History of Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: Luiz Sérgio Repa
• Grantee: Simone Bernardete Fernandes
• Host Institution: Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento (CEBRAP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 14/11611-3 - Public sphere and reconstruction: on the constitution of a reconstructive paradigm within Critical Theory, AP.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 16/21410-0 - Horkheimer's critique of reason and the notions of internalization of the domination and internalization of the sacrifice, BE.EP.MS

Abstract

This research project aims to investigate the reception of Nietzsche's philosophy in Horkheimer's thought in the 1930's and 1940's. This philosophy is more directly approached in the Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944), work written in collaboration with Adorno. However, to properly understand such reception it is necessary to consider it within an ongoing development initiated in the 1930's, a period in which Nietzsche is gradually integrated into Horkheimer's philosophy. Also, this integration is linked with the author's diagnosis of the present. In order to analyze this development, the concept of internalization is adopted as a guiding principle. This concept is originated from On the Genealogy of Morality and also has psychoanalytic implication. At first, it is employed by Horkheimer in his texts from 1936: "Egoism and freedom movement" and "Authority and family", in explicit reference to Nietzsche's philosophy. Later, in the Dialectic of Enlightenment, the concepts of internalization and introversion of the sacrifice play a central role in the constitution of reason and subjectivity, taking as paradigm the passing of Ulysses by the sirens in the Odyssey. In view of these considerations, this research aims to analyze how the nietzschean philosophy is articulated in Horkheimer's thought, in order to establish a concept of rationality.

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

FERNANDES, Simone Bernardete. The subjective aspect of social domination: Nietzsches reception in Horkheimers critical theory from the 1930s and 1940s. 2019. Master's Dissertation - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD) São Paulo.