8: Conclusion

Enlightenment Humanism promised freedom, equality and solidarity for all. Capitalism's reality is that it subverts the Enlightenment and results in outbursts of irrationality and ‘antireason’ that unleashed destructive forces that can result in ‘the extermination of humanity’ (Horkheimer and Adorno 2002, 43). This book has argued that in light of the global problems humanity faces, we should not abandon the Enlightenment and humanism, but fully realise them so that all humans benefit. The ‘wounds which enlightenment has left behind’ are ‘the moments where enlightenment itself betrays its own imperfect character and reveals that it is actually not yet enlightened enough. And it is only by pursuing the principle of enlightenment through to the end that these wounds may perhaps be healed’ (Adorno 2017, 188). Digital Humanism is a theory and praxis of how to heal the deep wounds of the Enlightenment that capitalism created.