Pessimism and the Frankfurt School, Toward a Theory of Radical Ecopessimism

• In Event: Adorno, Benjamin, and Querying the Unreason in Contemporary Politics

Abstract

The contemporary political landscape is rife with entrenched and volatile divisions; a global pandemic has shaken the pervasive belief that the US and the Western world were immune to transboundary public health or ecological shocks; and each year, wildfire and hurricane seasons become longer and more deadly—with the 2020 wildfire season in the Western US proving to be the most destructive on record. In response to widespread environmental concerns, a global pandemic, and authoritarian creep there has been insufficient political muster to grapple with these pervasive problems. Our political response has proven unreasonable and yet everywhere we are condemned as unreasonable (and unpatriotic) if we don’t maintain optimism about the possibility for addressing these issues. Instead, passive optimism about addressing climate change, and environmental degradation is an unreasonable trap rooted in the myth of historical progress. This paper intends to put Adorno and Benjamin’s critiques of historical progress, suspicion about linear time, and alarm with senseless suffering into conversation with Joshua Dienstag’s conception of pessimism to develop a theory of radical ecopessimism to overcome this trap.

Author

• Mary Witlacil, Colorado State Univeristy