Enlightenment criticsizm of frankfurt school's: Horkheimer, Adorno and Marcuse context with

The Enlightenment movement, which determined the characteristic of the 18th century, positioned itself against the darkness of the Middle Ages and attempted to destroy it by subordinating it to whatever darkness it contained. However, not just taking place in a certain period, the Enlightenment has advanced in a wide range with a profound effect that has influenced all the periods coming after it. While espoused by many supporters, the movement of Enlightenment has also faced opposition in the course of time. The Frankfurt School, which can be regarded as a very important school in many thought circles offering criticism of the Enlightenment, also criticized the Enlightenment intensely. Developed by the school of thought that was named later as the Frankfurt School, this graduate thesis aims at evaluating the critical theory and its school as well as determining the importance and the focus of the criticism of the Enlightenment. This thesis also tries to define the thoughts and criticism of Adorno, Horkheimer and Marcuse, who, according to the common belief, are considered to be architects and developers of general ideas and principals of the Frankfurt School, about the Enlightenment movement and thought, and explain how they criticize the Enlightenment. In this study, it is concluded that as a thought movement, rather than the Enlightenment itself, the critical theorists oppose the point that has come through in the process since its emergence. In this sense, the criticism of the School is focused on the destruction of the arguments developed by the Enlightenment. Therefore, the titles of criticism are parallel to the titles of the Enlightenment. Assessing the Enlightenment by placing it on the basis of the modern age, the Frankfurt School connects whatever scope there is in the critical theory, which was also developed by the School itself, to the Enlightenment. Indeed, even in its critique of capitalism, a path based on the Enlightenment has been observed. According to the conclusion of the thesis, the Frankfurt School has a lot of common ideas with the Enlightenment. But, because evaluated as a failed project at the point of realizing common ideas, the Enlightenment is also criticized by the Frankfurt School.