Reason, Truth and Technology in Modern Societies in the Context of The Frankfurt School

Abstract

This article discusses the perception of truth that emerges from the existence of reason in modern societies as a result of industrialization in the context of Frankfurt School criticism. There have been many important developments in modern societies. The most important of these are technological progress and industrialization. These two situations not only brought modern societies to an advanced level, but also constructed a new reality in the economic, social and political spheres. New reality always means a new truth. However, in modern societies, this new truth has been placed at the center of all discussions with the criticisms of technological progress and industrialization. In this sense, the thinkers of the Frankfurt School accused modern societies of losing their truth in these debates and enabled us to reconstruct the existence of truth in the 20th century. According to them, as a result of industrialization, people in modern societies exhibit a way of thinking, comprehension and behavior that we can express as total sameness. Looking at such a situation from the perspective of the Frankfurt School, it can be seen that truth loses its meaning and a “truthless” situation emerges. However, in response to this claim of the Frankfurt School, this article aims to show that even when every new situation is negated, the truth does not depend on the existing established conditions but has an ontology that acts independently.