The Dialectic of Enlightenment is a groundbreaking philosophical and sociological work written by philosophers Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno. In it, they explore and critique society and culture specifically pertaining to the age of enlightenment.
The book is widely regarded as one of the key influential texts on critical theory as we know it today and has influenced many aspects of society and culture in the 20th century. The Frankfurt School philosophers were inspired by the widespread upheavals in society at that time, including but not limited to: National Socialism, Stalinism, and mass culture. These phenomenon could not be explained by traditional methods of thinking and this spurred the pair to write a new dissertation that continues to shape modern critical theory.
The book was first published in 1944 in German but was later received an English translation in 1972. A revised edition was released in 1947.
