When even the dictators of today appeal to reason, they mean that they possess the most tanks. They were rational enough to build them; others should be rational enough to yield to them.
Interpretation
This quote critiques how dictators use the guise of reason to justify their power and force.
Max Horkheimer highlights the irony in how dictators claim to operate under reason and rationality while their actions are primarily driven by brute force. The quote suggests that their interpretation of reason is skewed, equating power with rationality and expecting others to accept this distorted logic, thereby exposing the flawed nature of authoritarianism.
In practice
In a debate about political power, this quote can illustrate the use of force under the guise of reason.
A revolutionary career does not lead to banquets and honorary titles, interesting research and professorial wages. It leads to misery, disgrace, ingratitude, prison and a voyage into the unknown, illuminated by only an almost superhuman belief.
The complexity of the connection between the world of perception and the world of physics does not preclude that such a connection can be shown to exist at any time.
I believe in the sun. In the tangle of human failures of fear, greed and forgetfulness, the sun gives me clarity.
I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. It doesn't change God - it changes me.
The major threats to our survival no longer stem from nature without but from our own human nature within. It is our carelessness, our hostilities, our selfishness and pride and willful ignorance that endanger the world.
For men are not equal: thus speaks justice.
Our life and our death is with our neighbor. If we gain our brother, we have gained God, but if we scandalize our brother, we have sinned against Christ.
Cities are erected on spiritual columns. Like giant mirrors, they reflect the hearts of their residents. If those hearts darken and lose faith, cities will lose their glamour.
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