Inter pacem silent Musae. On the dangers of aestheticization of conflict resolution

Nowadays we seem to know everything about wars and military conflicts. Contemporary media provide us with detailed information from all the battle fields of the contemporary world. They cover conflicts from the beginning to resolution and synthetize them into data accessible to the general public. Nevertheless this does not prevent the reoccurrence of old conflicts and emergence of new ones. So the question arises: does this type of aestheticization of conflicts and wars contribute to our understanding of them? By means of the method of interdisciplinary research, proposed by members of the Frankfurt School, in my paper I will argue that the aesthetics offered by today’s mass media of communication is not suitable for this task. Critically adapting Frankfurt Scholars’ analyses of culture industry to contemporary social world, I will show that this aestheticization undermines our ability of reflection as well as the development of normative judgment without which we cannot comprehend properly all reasons leading to conflicts and wars, in order to prevent them. To realize this aim, I will start with situating the problem of aestheticization in the context of postauratic transformation in modern art. Next, I will discuss technological-organizational means (i.e. mass media) through which contemporary aestheticization proceeds. With the help of neurological research on influence of mediatized communication on our cognitive, social and emotional capabilities, I will point to their destructive effect on our ability to solve problems of social world such as conflicts and wars. Finally, against this background, I will elaborate on the dangers of aestheticization of conflict resolution and reflect in general on the possible contribution of modern art to our dealings with the comprehensive crisis our society is faced with.