Theme 2: Reflections after the Lecture and Seminar.

This week we read Walter Benjamin's essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Technical Reproductivity" (1936) and Adorno & Horkheimer’s "Dialectic of Enlightenment" (1944).

The meaning of nominalism was the most difficult part of Theme 2. No matter how many sources I searched to understand it, I couldn’t have a clear explanation of it in my mind. The lecture and the seminars helped me a lot to sort things out. At the seminar we have time to discuss all the main ideas with our team. We exchanged opinions that in some pointes there were much different. In the second hour of the seminar we had an interesting and helpful conversation with the professor, and I really hope that we could have more time to discuss.

In order to understand nominalism, we have to know first what Platonic realism is. Platonic realism says that the perception we have about the things it’s just a reflection of the real things, we have to look back to understand the concept. The allegory of the Plato’s cave helped a lot. Imagine that you are a prisoner in a cave and you can only look at the wall. Behind you there is a fire and objects that are reflected on the wall. You can only see and hear the shadow of the object and the echoes cast by objects. For example you think that you see a book but this is just the reflection of it. If you want to see the real book you have to look back. Nominalism is the opposite of Realism. In nominalism everything that you see is real. Every object is individual and there are no general ideas, apart from the name. 

The relation between nominalism and enlightenment is that we have to get rid of the concepts, the opinion of the others, the opinion of society, we have to observe things as unique and that they don’t have anything in common. However, according to Adorno and Horkheimer nominalism position is dangerous because if we just observe stuff that exists, we don’t make questions and we become slaves. We need ideas to make changes in the world, and concepts are also important. This is why nominalism is also related to fascism. Because also in fascism we do not have changes, for example poor should always be poor.

Enlightenment also has similarities with mass media. Both of them shows life as it is and fail to show any alternative. For example the movies mirroring the actual conditions but also lead us to think that this is how life should be. As a result to that, Adorno and Horkheimer believe that things aren’t going any better and that there are not revolutionary potentials. In contrast with Benjamin who is more optimistic and believes that culture will change society. 

In the seminar we also had a discussion about nowadays media and how the effected superstructure. Even though we cannot see the results right now, the results will come. In 80’s there was big enthusiasm about computers and communication, but this now has come to integrate social bones. We talk also about natural and historical perception and how art and media combine characteristics of different times and change our perception. For instance, a politician wearing the clothes of Plato makes him look clever.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have so much time to discuss about aura. But one important thing I want to point out is that aura is the key against fascism. Reproduction free art and gives potation to all people, not only the rich ones.