Theodor Adorno

On Stupidity

by Magdalena Wisniowska

Copy of a paper presented in 2011 as part of InC. unpublished

‘On stupidity’ is a close reading of two short passages from Adorno’s Minima Moralia: sections 79 (Intellectus... more ‘On stupidity’ is a close reading of two short passages from Adorno’s Minima Moralia: sections 79 (Intellectus sacrificium intellectus) and 127 (Wishful thinking).  In these sections, Adorno discusses the relationship between intelligence and stupidity.  My reading will focus on the sections’ problematic claim: that intellect and stupidity are essentially the same.  Both are different outcomes of the same ‘forceful nature’. 

Lives Not Wasted

by Jon Simons

Intended as a blog piece to coincide with the publication of FROM AGAMBEN TO ZIZEK: CONTEMPORARY CRITICAL THEORISTS (2010).

In seinem Anderen bei sich selbst zu sein: Toward a Recuperation of Hegel's Metaphysics of Agency

by Ayon Maharaj

Epoché: A Journal for the History of Philosophy 11.1 (Fall 2006), 225-255.

This essay argues for a distinctly post-Kantian understanding of Hegel's definition of freedom as "being at home... more This essay argues for a distinctly post-Kantian understanding of Hegel's definition of freedom as "being at home with oneself in one's other." I first briefly isolate the inadequacies of some dominant interpretations of Hegelian freedom and proceed to develop a more adequate theoretical frame by turning to Theodor Adorno. Then I interpret Hegel's notion of the freedom of the will in the Philosophy of Right in terms of his speculative metaphysics. Finally, I briefly examine Hegel's treatment of agency in the Phenomenology of Spirit in order to establish important continuities between the early and late Hegel.

The All-Penetrating Ether of Society: Adorno, Exchange, and Abstract Social Domination

by Chris O'Kane

Paper presented at the Annual Historical Materialism Conference, London United Kingdom. 

The Universal Character of the Fetish: Critical Theory and Social Crisis. Presented at the 5th Annual Rome Conference on Critical Theory.

by Chris O'Kane

Pied Pipers and Polymaths: On the Politics of Adorno's Late Lectures (pdf)

by Adrian Wilding

First Published in Stefano Giacchetti Ludovisi (ed.), Critical Theory: Nostalgia for a Redeemed Future (John Cabot University Press, 2009)

The World's Course and its Discontents: Adorno's Lectures on History and Freedom (pdf)

by Adrian Wilding

How political is music? An approach through Adorno and Rancière

by João Pedro Cachopo

Paper presented at International Conference on “Sociology of music. Tendencies, Issues, Perspectives” (org. CESEM), Culturgest, Lisbon, 23-25 July 2009.

Paradox and Critique. Some Thoughts on an Unexpected Affinity between Deleuze and Adorno.

by João Pedro Cachopo

Paper presented at “CONNECTdeleuze: The Second International Deleuze Studies Conference,” Universität zu Köln, Köln, 10-12 August 2009.

Uma revisão crítica da leitura habermasiana da Dialéctica do Iluminismo de Adorno e Horkheimer [Habermas’ Reading of Dialectic of Enlightenment: a critical revision]

by João Pedro Cachopo

Published in Saberes, Natal – RN, vol. 1, no. 1 (December 2008), pp. 57-70 [in Portuguese].

Resumo:

O artigo visa levar a cabo uma revisão crítica da leitura habermasiana da Dialéctica do Iluminismo... more Resumo:

O artigo visa levar a cabo uma revisão crítica da leitura habermasiana da Dialéctica do Iluminismo de Adorno e Horkheimer, tendo como pano de fundo a perspectiva de uma reavaliação do potencial da filosofia adorniana, para lá das fronteiras teóricas da chamada segunda geração da Escola de Frankfurt. Atendendo ao teor crítico da leitura proposta por Habermas, tratar-se-á de discutir dois aspectos que lhe estão subjacentes: a identificação da dimensão mítica do iluminismo com a “racionalidade instrumental”, por um lado, e, por outro, o diagnóstico segundo o qual estaria em causa na Dialéctica do iluminismo uma totalização da crítica que conduziria inevitavelmente a filosofia a uma situação aporética que ameaça conduzi-la ao beco sem saída do cepticismo. Face a este duro diagnóstico, sugere-se que a dimensão paradoxal do pensamento de Adorno pode constituir – permanecendo fiel à sua definição enfática da filosofia como “pensamento que não se deixa travar” – uma vertente imprescindível do pensar filosófico capaz de desencadear, com o seu carácter perturbador, uma crítica imanente da razão.

Médiation et énigme dans la pensée musicale d'Adorno

by João Pedro Cachopo

Published in in Présents musicaux, ed. Jean-Paul Olive (Paris, L’Harmattan – Collection Arts 8, 2009), pp. 171-192 [in French].

Como rasgar o firmamento ? A arte e o “fora” em Deleuze e Adorno [How to tear open the firmament? Art and ‘Outside’ in Deleuze and Adorno]

by João Pedro Cachopo

Published in in “Fora da filosofia", ed. Golgona Anghel and Eduardo Pellejero (Lisbon, CFCUL, 2010), pp. 39-63 [in Portuguese].

Notas sobre a actualidade do caso Wagner

by João Pedro Cachopo

Published in "Obras de Richard Wagner", TNSC, 2008 [in Portuguese]

La idea de Historia Natural: La Alternativa Benjaminiana de Theodor Adorno

by Matias Bascuñan Callis

On Erich Fromm: why he left the Frankfurt school

by Caroline Kamau

Kamau, C. (2012).

Chapter synopsis: 'On Erich Fromm: Why he left the Frankfurt School':

-Biography: Erich Fromm
-Erich... more Chapter synopsis: 'On Erich Fromm: Why he left the Frankfurt School':

-Biography: Erich Fromm
-Erich Fromm was very critical of Freudian psychoanalysis. The Frankfurt School disapproved of that.
-Tension arose between Fromm and Horkheimer/Adorno/Marcuse and other pro-Freudian contemporaries
-Erich Fromm had reservations about the Frankfurt School's desire to merge psychoanalysis with Marxist theory
-Controversy arose over the Frankfurt School's decision not to publish a manuscript that Fromm wrote, with Weiss. This was a report of their landmark authoritarian personality study of 1931. The topic and methodology shaped the Frankfurt School's later research into authoritarianism (e.g. Adorno et al.'s famous studies).

This chapter also discusses Erich Fromm's work post-Frankfurt School:
--Fromm on social neurosis
--Fromm on thoughts as a form of self-presentation or impression management
--Fromm's theoretical focus on self identity, rather than instincts
--Fromm's theory about personality traits
--Fromm on empiricism and psychology versus psychoanalysis

BUILDING OVER PLANNING: RADICAL COUNTER-HEGEMONY AND THE DINOSAURS OF THE OLD LEFT

by E. Colin Ruggero

Labor and Metaphysics in Hindemith’s and Adorno’s Statements on Counterpoint

by Keith Chapin

“Labor and Metaphysics in Hindemith’s and Adorno’s Statements on Counterpoint.” In Apparitions: New Perspectives on Adorno and Twentieth-Century Music, ed. Berthold Hoeckner. London: Routledge, 2006. 19-40.

Composer Paul Hindemith and philosopher Theodor Adorno each explored the notion of counterpoint and its... more Composer Paul Hindemith and philosopher Theodor Adorno each explored the notion of counterpoint and its interrelatedness with musical development through history. Both addressed principles of the laws of nature, the role of labor in musical creation, and factors such as density and texture in the evolution of musical processes, while appreciating the diversity of counterpoint’s evolution as well as its timeliness as a device in contemporary music.

„Adorno und Descartes, programmatisch versöhnt: Der wissenschaftliche Essay als Form“

by Anne Sophie Spann

published in: Merkur. Deutsche Zeitschrift für europäisches Denken 63, 11, (2009), 1077-1081.

What Is Conceptual History?

by Iain Macdonald

Published in K. Deligiorgi (dir.), Hegel: New Directions, London et Montréal, Acumen et McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2006.

Cold, Cold, Warm: Autonomy, Intimacy and Maturity in Adorno

by Iain Macdonald

Philosophy and Social Criticism, vol. 37, no. 6 (2011): 669-689.

When Adorno refers to the concept of maturity (Mündigkeit), he generally means having the courage and the ability to... more When Adorno refers to the concept of maturity (Mündigkeit), he generally means having the courage and the ability to use one’s own understanding independently of dominant heteronomous patterns of thought. This Kantian-sounding claim is essentially an exhortation: maturity demands self-liberation from heteronomy, or more simply: autonomy. The problem, however, is that in spite of Adorno’s general endorsement of Kant’s definition of maturity, he ultimately rejects the corresponding Kantian definition of autonomy, which posits a purely formal sphere of rational interiority in which the self-legislating subject is bound by the moral law. Yet Adorno does not simply set aside the Kantian concept of autonomy. On the contrary, he will try to correct it by returning to it what it lacks, namely, intimacy or ‘live contact with the warmth of things.’ In this gesture, he aims to restore to autonomy its ethical substance or its lived ethical context, not as a mere supplement to the necessary purity of duty, but rather as necessary to the very process of becoming autonomous, i.e., mature and responsible. This paper examines Adorno’s concept of maturity in the context of the dialectical relationship between autonomy and intimacy.