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Martin, Stewart ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2419-1123 (2002) Adorno and
the problem of philosophy. PhD thesis, Middlesex University. [Thesis]
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Adorno Problem Philosophy
the
and of
Stewart Martin
Middlesex University
PhD Thesis
May 2002
Acknowledgements
from Arts
I gratefully acknowledge a three year full time research grant the and
Humanities Research Board (AHRB). Professor Peter Osborne, my supervisor,
bar.
has been inspiration invaluable from the seminar room to the
an and aid
Dr. Frances Stracey has been brilliant throughout.
Many thanks. my accomplice
for Leytonstone.
Thanks
everything, even
2
Abstract
This in Theodor W. Adorno, in
thesis the the the
examines problem of philosophy work of
its for idea Critical Theory in in light
the the the
context of significance of and, particular, of
dominant its Jürgen Habermas. The
to the
contemporary obstacle revaluation: criticism of
it is indicated
thesis to the
attempts provide a critical elaboration of concept of philosophy as
by Adorno, in to demonstrate its discipline,
order coherence and value as a modem critical
decisive importance for Critical Theory. Chapter 1
the
with a continuing and project of
introduces the in Adorno, through demonstrating how Habermas's
problem of philosophy
fails to the Adorno's
criticism recognise precise character of engagement with philosophy,
its for Critical Theory. Chapter 2 introduces
and thereby mis-recognises significance the
the idea in Adorno through the interpretative
reassessment of of philosophy an elaboration of
demands it imposes, its discourse It the
revealing relation to a of metaphilosophy. elaborates
form interpretation
the
self-reflective constitution of philosophy. as a of which concept of
is itself interpretation
to, to the
philosophy subject with particular attention of philosophy's
Chapter 3 Adorno's the
obsolescence and need. elaborates understanding of paradoxical
division labour `non-specialist It discerns its
to the
relation of philosophy of as a specialism'.
dialectical
to
relation a set of non-philosophical practices, as relations of anti-philosophy; and
Adorno's but Kant, be
elaborates expansive, critical concept of philosophy as what, after may
`world-concept Chapter 4 the
called a of philosophising'. examines presentation of
in Adorno, its linguistic it is
through the
philosophy elaborating medium as articulated
dialectical to their image the
relation of concepts sign and qualities; and novel non-dogmatic
forms Adorno developed following French Encyclopaedists, Kant, German
the early
Romanticism Benjamin. Chapter 5 the form Adorno's
and analyses peculiar speculative of
dialectical It demonstrates its to the three
concept of philosophy. relation speculative
influential to him those Kant, Hegel Benjamin the
philosophies most of and and examines
- -
it Chapter 6 the form time-consciousness
conception of metaphysics generates. examines of
be for Adorno. It his idea history
that philosophy was to elaborates of natural as an alternative
Hegel's historical Benjamin's
to the to
conception of philosophy and critical relation
historiography truth that informs it. This is developed in to its illuminating
of relation
Freudian ideology-critique from
to the that
allusions psychoanalysis and concept of emerges
historical interpretation interpretation
the truth.
of semblance as an of
3
Table Contents
of
Adorno
Introduction the 5
and problem of philosophy
p.
Habermas's Critical Theory
Chapter 1 9
critique of
p.
Dialectic Enlightenment
of as crisis
From ideology-critique independent
to totalising
and critique
The
precipice ofphilosophical modernism
Re-philosophization
Mimesis Paradox
as
Excursus: From to thinking
metaphysics postmetaphysical
Emancipatory interests
From
to
emancipation reconstruction
Modernism
Problem
Chapter 2 50
p.
Programme: interpretation
Transformed
actuality
Obsolescence
and need
Chapter 3 Division labour 79
of p.
Non-philosophy/anti-philosophy
Not
science
Not
art
Not Weltanschauung
Not
praxis
World
concept of philosophy
Excursus: Kant's
world-concept ofphilosophy
World-concept
ofphilosophizing
4
Presentation
Chapter 4
118
p.
Language
Sign, image,
concept
Excursus: Kant's dogmatism
critique of
Anti-System
Constellations
Ideas
Constellation
versus sub! ation
Essay
Fragments
A Dictionnairephilosophique
new
A dictionary fragments
of
Speculation
Chapter 5 162
p.
Dialectic
of semblance
From knowledge
an organon of semblance to an organon of absolute
Dialectical
thinking
and speculative
Semblance in logic
speculative
Reflective judgement
Speculative Benjamin
philosophy:
Metaphysical
experience
Time-consciousness
Chapter 6 198
p.
The idea history
of natural
Historical
metaphysics
Absolute dialectical Mourning
modernity and
Mourning Melancholia
and
Symptomatic
truth
reading of
Ideology-Critique
Art ideology-critique
as
From
Coda to thinking 230
postmetaphysical metaphysical
p.
I
Bibliography 234
p.
5
Introduction
Adorno
the
and problem of philosophy
Theodor W. Adorno has dual by Jürgen
currently something of a status: apparently outmoded
Habermas's Critical Theory, hand;
to transform the
attempt on one revered as a canonical
The
thinker, the this Not
on other. sides of split reputation are, of course, not unrelated. only
has Adorno been Habermas, he has been
to
valued as an alternative also regarded as a pivotal
'
figure intellectual The
transitional
or within modern culture more generally. concept of
has in been Adorno's if has
to this
philosophy many ways pivotal controversial status and,
2
been in Adorno, has
the this
only cursorily acknowledged some of revisions of recognition
been deepened. This
thesis to to this
also notably attempts contribute revised view of
Adorno's in direct It demonstrate
to the
philosophical significance and a very way. attempts
Adorno's idea it be decisive
to to to the
coherence and value of of philosophy and show
form that the Critical Theory
emancipatory of critique was classical preoccupation of
-a
I
This is true Gillian Rose Habermas himself. See
of as mutually opposed commentators as and also
Jean-Francois Lyotard, `Adorno Devil', R. Hurley, Telos 19 (1984/5), 127-37;
the trans.
as vol. pp.
Gillian Rose, `From Speculative to Dialectic Thinking Hegel Adorno' in Judaism
and and
-
Modernity: Philosophical Essays (Blackwell, Oxford, Cambridge Ma., 1993), 53-64; Interview
pp.
Jürgen Habermas by A. Honneth `The Dialectics Rationalisation' (22 May 10 July
with et al, of and
1981) in Autonomy Solidarity: Interviews P. Dews (Verso, London, New York, 1986) 97-8.
and ed. pp.
2
Susan Buck-Morss, The Origin Negative Dialectics: Theodor W. Adorno, Walter Benjamin
of and
Frankfurt Institute (Freedom Press, New York, 1977). Gillian Rose, The Melancholy Science: An
the
Introduction Thought Theodor W. Adorno (Macmillan, London, 1978). Fredric Jameson,
to the
of
Late Marxism: Adorno, Persistence Dialectic (Verso, London New York, 1990).
the the
or, of and
3
See for instance J. M. Bernstein's The Fate Aesthetic Alienation from Kant Derrida
ofArt: to and
Adorno, (Polity Press, Cambridge, 1992); Recovering Ethical Life: Jürgen Habermas Future
the
and
Critical Theory (Routledge, London, New York, 1995); Adorno: Disenchantment Ethics
of and and
(Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, 2001). See Simon Jarvis, Adorno: A
also,
Critical Introduction (Polity Press, Cambridge, 1998).
6
Adorno, Horkheimer Marcuse defend it
that to to
contention was common and and against
-
its by Habermas. This is its departure in Chapter 1. Critical Theory
marginalisation point of
dual hand,
the the
presents a concern with philosophy, on one and various social sciences, on
4
But the this dualism tends to deepen than to the
other. acknowledgement of rather clarify
how the idea itself transformed in this It is therefore
problem of of philosophy was process.
liable to lead to isolation from the has been feature
an of philosophy social sciences, which a
Critical Theory. This by
thesis to this
of post-Habermasian attempts counter marginalisation
idea it from Adorno's
the
elaborating of philosophy as emerges writings.
It is the directness the Adorno's idea that
sustained of reading of of philosophy
distinguishes this thesis from My here is the
other comparable endeavours. concern with
in Adorno, in is it be
this
problem of philosophy and only regard about whatever may
to be It is therefore distinct from the
assumed properly philosophical problems. preoccupation
5
Art is fundamental
Adorno's
with philosophy as an aesthetics or philosophy of art. of course
his it is the
to concept of philosophy, yet also characteristic of post-Habermasian
Critical Theory in Adorno
to the the
transformation of marginalize problem of philosophy as
4
`The Critical Theory is it its (Kant,
oppositional movement of refined as engages with philosophical
Hegel, Nietzsche) (Marx, Weber Freud) finding transforming
and social scientific and sources, and a
tradition of thought for itself, and then at a later stage, self-consciously transformatively reworking its
history. ' J. M. Bernstein, `Critical Theory The Very Idea: Reflections Nihilism
on and
own
-
Domination' Recovering Ethical Life: Jürgen Habermas the Future Critical Theory
and of
(Routledge, London, New York, 1995), 11-12.
pp.
As it in Bernstein, The Fate Aesthetic Alienation from Kant to Derrida Adorno.
appears ofArt: and
See Christoph Menke, The Sovereignty Aesthetic Negativity in Adorno Derrida, trans.
also ofArt: and
N. Solomon, (MIT Press, Cambridge Ma., London, 1998). In Menke
the
many respects pursues
Habermasian that Albrecht Wellmer has developed. See for instance, Albrecht Wellmer's
reading
`Truth, Semblance, Adorno's Aesthetic Redemption Modernity' in The Persistence
reconciliation: of
Modernity: Essays Aesthetics, Ethics Postmodernism D. Midgley (MIT Press,
trans.
of on and
Cambridge Ma., London, 1991) `Adorno, Modernity the Sublime' in Max Pensky The
and and ed.
Actuality (SUNY Press, New York, 1997), 112-34.
ofAdorno pp.
7
division
the
regional concern of one aspect of neo-Kantian of value spheres, the aesthetic.
This thesis to interpret Adorno's idea directly
attempts of philosophy and emphatically, and
therefore in that his Habermas is
such a way confrontation with made explicit.
Philosophy is is broad in its it foolishly
that that
a word so meanings may appear a
This for its ironic in
generalised or ambitious object of examination. may account absence so
investigations Adorno. This is determinations
thesis the that
many philosophical of about
is forced by its
this to take
apparently very abstract concept nonetheless on problematisation.
It in
the
concerns philosophy as name of a problem or a problematic, which a context of
focal in
to these
problems surrounds a particular point, relation which problems are
however tangentially. It does Adorno's
constituted, not presuppose continuity with a
but it is
traditional this tradition
canon of philosophical problems, examines as received
Adorno's idea It is in
through the this
problematisation of of philosophy. sense a
Adorno's This is it
to that
metaphilosophical examination of philosophy. not say examines
from Its departure is Adorno's
the
problem of philosophy an external vantage point. point of
The in Adorno is
own metaphilosophical reflections. problem of philosophy examined as a
for Adorno, for his interpretation
thereby
problem and only as a problem and significance.
The `object' is idea
this thesis the that through this
of of philosophy emerges combination of
problems.
Adorno's idea be defined beginning its
the
of philosophy cannot simply at of
its It is it
that through the the
examination, or at end. such emerges elaboration of problems
6
There least in But
are of course exceptions, not parts of the studies cited above. these are rarely
Conversely, there that the Thomas McCarthy,
sustained exercises. are exceptions prove rule, such as
`The Idea Critical Theory its Relation to Philosophy' in S. Benhabib, W. Bonss
of a and eds. and
J. McCole, On Max Horkheimer: New Perspectives (MIT Press, Massachusetts, London, 1993),
127-52. This the Critical Theory
pp. presents post-Habermasian suppression of philosophy within and
discussion Adorno.
excludes any real of
8
it faces. Its be The
that
examination must reiterative and excursive. question of what
is, be it is brought in Adorno's
time to texts
philosophy. must posed each self-consciousness
in is indicated idea
then terms the
as a problem, and elaborated of what about of philosophy
by his Therefore, Chapter 2 deals
treatment these the
as such of problems. with contradictory
its itself in form is its determination
task that
of philosophy's self-criticism; critique of a not
by discipline. Chapter 3 deals
to the
some other with philosophy's contradictory relation
division labour Chapter 4 deals delimited
of as a specialist non-specialism. with philosophy's
but forms Chapter 5
open and self-transgressive of presentation. elaborates philosophy's
illusion. Chapter 6
thinking truth through the
speculative of semblance or examines
history for These
the
contradiction generates philosophy's presentation of absolute. problems,
like impossible tasks. This is indeed they
stated pre-emptively, sound paradoxes or what are
first Their be through their Adorno's
at glance. possibility can only established elaboration.
idea itemisation. It be Contrary to
of philosophy resists must composed or performed.
Habermas's the `performative that Adorno is to,
criticism of contradictions' subject along
that
with other modernist philosophersr- namely, apparently coherent positions are revealed
themselves through their through
to contradict performance philosophy emerges explicit
-
This
through their thesis to
contradictions which are only resolved performance. attempts
distributive form in idea is in
present the constellatory or which the of philosophy meaningful
fragmentary but is
Adorno. It to the the this the
attempts present centre of problem, only
is Adorno's intentions
to that
claim exhaustiveness appropriate, regardless of modesty. own
investigation, but its `Adorno' is in
to. this. this the
are a clue not primary object. sense name
for idea that is through his treatment its Theodor W.
an of philosophy revealed of problems.
is himself
Adorno the the this
occasion, not ultimate object of examination.
See Jürgen Habermas, The Philosophical Discourses Modernity: Twelve Lectures, trans.
of
F. Lawrence (Polity Press, Cambridge, 1987).