The Mass Ornament

Abstract

ness of contemporary thinking is therefore ambivalent. From the point of view of mythological teachings, in which nature naively asserts itself, the process of abstraction as it is practiced in the natural sciences for example, is a gain in rationality which detracts from the glittering display of natural things. From the perspective of reason, the same process of abstraction appears conditioned by nature; it loses itself in an empty formalism which leaves the natural free rein by not allowing the insights of reason which could penetrate the natural. The prevailing abstractness shows that the process of demythologizing has not been completed. Present-day thinking is confronted with the question of whether it should open itself to reason or remain closed and continue to oppose it. It cannot move beyond its self-imposed boundary unless its base--the economic system--undergoes an essential change. The system's continued existence will support and promote the same type of thinking. In other words, the sustained development of the capitalist system conditions the sustained growth of abstract thinking (or necessitates that it founder in false concreteness). The more abstractness crystallizes, becomes fixed, the greater the tendency for humanity to be left behind, untouched by reason. Thus humanity will once again become subject to the forces of nature, if--when halfway toward abstractness--thinking diverges and rejects a breakthrough to the genuine contents of knowledge. Instead of opposing these forces, muddled thinking itself occasions their rise by ignoring that very process of reason which alone could combat such forces and make them submit. It is only a consequence of capitalism's unhampered expansion of power that the dark forces of nature continue to rise up threateningly, thereby preventing the emergence of a humanity whose essence is reason.

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