Abstract

BUENO, Sinésio Ferraz. Horkheimer, the Absolute and the conceptual ambiguity of negative theology. Educação e Filosofia [online]. 2023, vol.37, n.81, pp.1567-1584.  Epub Jan 24, 2024. ISSN 1982-596X.  https://doi.org/10.14393/revedfil.v37n81a2023-70310.

Horkheimer's work Eclipse of Reason is tensioned by a conceptual ambiguity. In the text Means and Ends, the concept of objective reason has a metaphysical foundation, which is contested by the materialist analysis exposed in the text On the concept of philosophy. This conceptual ambiguity reverberates in Horkheimer's later theological reflections, in which the originally metaphysical concept of the Absolute is received in materialist terms. In this sense, the negative theology postulated by Horkheimer reflects problems related to the conceptual foundation of dialectical materialism in the philosophical field. The purpose of this article is to expose this ambivalence, and also to point out the conceptual problems involved in the philosophical foundation of dialectical materialism.

Keywords : Critical Theory; Negative Theology; Dialectical Materialism; Absolute.

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