"Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science" Article Recommendation: Enlightenment and Art: Philosophy of New Music as a Practical Extension of Dialectic of Enlightenment

When Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy' becomes an algorithm-driven earworm, how much resistance is left in classical music? In an era dominated by clicks, are we using 'likes' to bury art's critical soul? These questions pierce through the core contradictions of modern civilization.

Yi Yang from Beijing Foreign Studies University, in her paper Enlightenment and Art: Philosophy of New Music as a Practical Extension of Dialectic of Enlightenment, dissects the "sweet poison" of the culture industry with Adorno's critical theory.

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Schoenberg and Stravinsky: The Modern Mirrors of Rebellion

As pop music degenerates into "ear economy" under big data, Adorno foresaw this disaster in 1949. His analysis of Schoenberg and Stravinsky mirrors today's cultural dichotomy. The former's twelve-tone rebellion collapsed into technical tyranny, while the latter's primal rhythms were co-opted as "luxury background music." This resonates with contemporary indie musicians who reject talent shows only to be trapped by algorithmic labels. 

The History of Artistic Co-optation: From Avant-Garde to Ad Soundtracks

Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire once provoked walkouts but now sits in Spotify's "experimental chill" playlist. Stravinsky's Rite of Spring caused riots in 1913 yet now scores designer handbag ads. Adorno's prophecy rings true: all resistance ends up as window dressing. 

​​The Tyranny of Data: Art Inflation, Pseudo-Individuality, and Instagram Aesthetics

The culture industry's perfect crime manifests in 15-second TikTok hooks and Instagrammable museum exhibits. Data tyranny reduces musical taste to personality quizzes in NetEase's "Yearly Wrap." Pseudo-individuality forces indie artists to tag "lo-fi" for algorithmic visibility. Art inflation fragments Picasso's Guernica into meme culture. The paper warns that when free creation becomes traffic code, art completes its self-negation. 

Adorno's Remedy and Contemporary Praxis: From Dissonance to Metaverse Critique

Facing this regression of enlightenment into myth, Adorno prescribed non-identity thinking to save harmonized ears with dissonance, and negative dialectics to resist turning symphonies into ringtones. Modern experiments like Björk's AI album Fossora retain deliberate algorithmic errors, while Cao Fei's metaverse installation Adorno's Nightmare sells critique tokens. 

True art isn't a mirror—it's the hammer that shatters it. In an era where reels devour depth, Adorno's theory strikes like an alarm bell. When we consume Mozart at 1.5x speed, we lose not just melody but the power to resist alienation. If resistance is doomed to be co-opted, should we still make noise?

The study was published in Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science, Hill Publishing Group

https://www.hillpublisher.com/ArticleDetails/4613

How to cite this paper

 Yi Yang.(2025)Enlightenment and Art: Philosophy of New Music as a Practical Extension of Dialectic of Enlightenment.Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science,9(3), 503-511.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2025.03.014