Domination by nature: On an unresolved tension in the Frankfurt School

Since its publication, Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno's Dialectic of Enlightenment has inspired a wide range of interpretations. In particular, its central claim – that active domination over nature ultimately leads to passive domination by nature – continues to provoke debate. Based on a novel ecological explanation of this reversal, the article identifies two contrasting perspectives in the discussions by Jürgen Habermas, Axel Honneth and Amy Allen, among others. Whereas some critical theorists understand the reversal into domination by nature as the result of human history in general, others regard it as a contingent outcome of specifically modern societies. Finally, the articles argues that both readings attempt to sway the Dialectic of Enlightenment toward a single perspective, while its authors leave the tension between the two unresolved.