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This book reveals the sense in which our postmodern societies are
characterized by the obscene absence of the intellectual. The
modern intellectual--who had once been associated with humanism and
enlightenment-has in our day been replaced by media stars, talking
heads, and technical experts. At issue is the ongoing crisis of
democracy, under the aegis of the societe du spectacle and its vast
networks of politically-induced idiocy, industrially-produced
biocide, and militarily-provoked genocide. Spectacle fills the
resulting moral and intellectual vacuum with electronic
technologies of control, punishment, and destruction. This
postmodern tyranny reduces intelligence to mechanistic, positivist,
and grammatological models of inquiry, while increasing the
segmentation, fragmentation, and dissolution of human existence.
The apotheosis of the spectacle explains the intellectual void that
lies at the heart of our postmodern decadence; it also accounts for
the need to recuperate the humanist values of enlightenment
promoted by the modern intellectual tradition.
This book reveals the sense in which our postmodern societies are
characterized by the obscene absence of the intellectual. The
modern intellectual--who had once been associated with humanism and
enlightenment-has in our day been replaced by media stars, talking
heads, and technical experts. At issue is the ongoing crisis of
democracy, under the aegis of the societe du spectacle and its vast
networks of politically-induced idiocy, industrially-produced
biocide, and militarily-provoked genocide. Spectacle fills the
resulting moral and intellectual vacuum with electronic
technologies of control, punishment, and destruction. This
postmodern tyranny reduces intelligence to mechanistic, positivist,
and grammatological models of inquiry, while increasing the
segmentation, fragmentation, and dissolution of human existence.
The apotheosis of the spectacle explains the intellectual void that
lies at the heart of our postmodern decadence; it also accounts for
the need to recuperate the humanist values of enlightenment
promoted by the modern intellectual tradition.
This book is about the ways in which modern enlightenment, rather
than liberating humanity from tyranny, has subjected us to new
servitude imposed by systems of mass manipulation, electronic
vigilance, compulsive consumerism, and the horrors of a seemingly
unending global war on terror. The main intellectual aims of this
title are the following: the analysis of spectacle, the criticism
of providential enlightenment, and the examination of positive
dialectics. The spectacle, in this case, is the apotheosis of the
culture industries, a total inversion of reality and of our
existences. Providential enlightenment is not only a critique of
the failure of enlightenment, but of the mutilation of historical
enlightenments. Positive dialectics signal a new era of
intellectual engagement in the construction of our historical
future. During a time in which national democracies seem an
imperial farce, it is not enough for intellectuals faced with all
this destruction to blithely recommend resistance. The book thus
ties American, British, French and German theoretical traditions
into a reflexive challenge to the notion of intellectual as critic,
and argues instead for a trespassive tradition of cultural
leadership.
This book is about the ways in which modern enlightenment, rather
than liberating humanity from tyranny, has subjected us to new
servitude imposed by systems of mass manipulation, electronic
vigilance, compulsive consumerism, and the horrors of a seemingly
unending global war on terror. The main intellectual aims of this
title are the following: the analysis of spectacle, the criticism
of providential enlightenment, and the examination of positive
dialectics. The spectacle, in this case, is the apotheosis of the
culture industries, a total inversion of reality and of our
existences. Providential enlightenment is not only a critique of
the failure of enlightenment, but of the mutilation of historical
enlightenments. Positive dialectics signal a new era of
intellectual engagement in the construction of our historical
future. During a time in which national democracies seem an
imperial farce, it is not enough for intellectuals faced with all
this destruction to blithely recommend resistance. The book thus
ties American, British, French and German theoretical traditions
into a reflexive challenge to the notion of intellectual as critic,
and argues instead for a trespassive tradition of cultural
leadership.
Quixotism explores how a group of Spanish intellectuals, writing
during the time of Restoration Spain (1876-1931), incorporated the
figure of Don Quixote into an on-going debate on Spanish national
and imperial decadence and used this figure to promote a
nationalistic and jingoistic formula for national-imperial
regeneration. Commonly known as the Generation of '98, these
writers turned Spain's military defeat at the hands of an emerging
American empire into a moral victory. Christopher Britt Arredondo
uses the term Quixotism to denote a premodern heroic ideal centered
on the figure of Don Quixote as he explores these writers. Here, he
shows how Ganivet turns Quixote into a spiritual conquistador;
Unamuno, into a tragic messiah; Maeztu, into a smiling priest; and
Ortega, into a paternalistic master. Quixotism is a new critical
category of political and cultural relevance, not only for
fin-de-siecle Spain and the National-Catholic Spain of the Franco
era, but also the democratic, postmodern Spain of today.
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