CONTRADICTION, CRITIQUE, AND DIALECTIC IN ADORNO A ...

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There are for Adorno two main elements in the specific relation that concepts hold to their objects in the modern world that make the relation determinate, and they correspond to the two strands that define Adorno’s conception of the conceptual system: one the one hand, a Hegelian strand tied to systematicity and dialectics, and, on the other, a Freudian strand tied to genealogy and the notion of pathology. Let us first consider the Hegelian strand. Adorno certainly holds, like Hegel, that the object, simply in virtue of its finitude, exhibits the conceptual elements that constitute it in a way that falls short of the content in the concepts. Recall that, for Hegel, any finite set of concepts that we could ascribe to any existent object necessarily falls short of expressing the object fully. It is only when these concepts are brought in relation to the totality of (dialectical and dynamic) relations in the system (that is, to “the Concept”) that they apply to the object adequately, and, at this point, the object is not just considered as a finite object but rather in its specific relations to the whole of thinkable reality. Similarly, Adorno holds that the conceptual system as a whole (the “concept”) defines objects as they are structured in our social reality. This is a point I have already examined in chapter 4, so I will not elaborate too much on it here. The point is that objects as defined by our social order do in fact exhibit the structure of the system, which is, internally, a teleological structure (see chapter 6), and in terms of which each object is defined by its relation to other objects in the system and to the system as a whole—a system that is in turn determined by the principle of exchange. This is why the impulse of systematicity remains present in Adorno’s thought: the system is a necessary moment of critical philosophy because it corresponds to the structure of concepts and things in advanced capitalist society. 364
However, this society is pathological: “Sowie aber bleibt ihr [die Philosophie] am System zu achten, wie das ihr Heterogene als System ihr gegenübertritt. Darauf bewegt die verwaltete Welt sich hin. System ist die negative Objektivität....” 327 The system corresponds to the structure of social reality in the advanced capitalist world, and, since the structure of the system and its relation to objects in the social totality is replicated by dialectical reflection, this form of reflection captures one side of the relation between concept and object, but “Angesichts der konkreten Möglichkeit von Utopie ist Dialektik die Ontologie des falschen Zustandes. Von ihr wäre ein richtiger befreit, System so wenig wie Widerspruch.” 328 The fact that dialectics, and the relation between concept and object on which it is built, correspond to “the wrong state of things” points to a second strand in Adorno’s conception of the relation between concept and the object, for the qualitative judgment that the dialectical relation is pathological is part of the content of the relation. This second strand in Adorno’s conception of the relation between concept and object is specifically Freudian; it corresponds to the interpretation of the “system” (the systematic structure of conceptuality as a whole, which also defines the eidos of social reality) as a symptom of paranoid projection. I have already argued that Adorno’s conception of the “system” is specifically bound to Freud’s analysis of paranoia (see 327 Adorno, Negative Dialektik, in Gesammelte Schriften, Vol. 6 (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1970), 31, emphasis mine. See English translation by E.B. Ashton in Negative Dialectics (New York and London: Continuum, 2005), 20: “Philosophy retains respect for systems to the extent to which things heterogeneous to it face it in the form of a system. The administered world moves in this direction. It is the negative objectivity that is a system….” 328 Adorno, Negative Dialektik, in Gesammelte Schriften, Vol. 6 (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1970), 22, emphasis mine. See English translation by E.B. Ashton in Negative Dialectics (New York and London: Continuum, 2005), 11: “Regarding the concrete utopian possibility, dialectics is the ontology of the wrong state of things. The right state of things would be free of it: neither a system nor a contradiction.” 365
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CONTRADICTION, CRITIQUE, AND DIALEC
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CONTRADICTION, CRITIQUE, AND DIALEC
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For my parents, Luz Marina and John
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4.3 Adorno’s resolution of the di
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FIGURES Figure 4.1: Inner contradic
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost,
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CHAPTER 1: THE PROBLEM OF DETERMINA
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in the present study, and which I t
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inadequate. In my view, O’Connor
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system, and Adorno rejects both the
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and instead examining only the assu
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In Hegel, there are three stages in
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dialectical movement in act. 16 Phi
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According to Hegel, the philosopher
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dialectic is driven forward from on
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observing consciousness has already
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consciousness to perform the operat
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and makes possible the successive a
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corresponds to the self-determining
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And yet, as I hope to have shown in
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claim; namely, that the Hegelian sy
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the system’s inability to express
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Hegel’s idea that history is in e
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irremediably caught in a situation
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defined in its essence by rationali
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zum Entsetzen verifiziert und auf d
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1.2.2 Hegelian dialectics as a form
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objectivity, but rather as an empha
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as thought, is a form of thought th
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conceptual element. It is thus ulti
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It is clear, however, that (2) is n
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ultimately blind to this problem. H
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Aber Denken darf auch nicht bei der
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The first contradiction is internal
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world, and the nature of the subjec
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undertaking of giving an account of
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eflection. 62 The idea is that, ins
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of subject and object characterizin
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then, will be to take a suitable ex
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in it as providing a stable view of
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2.2 The subject’s mediation of an
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It might be thought, then, that the
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the subject as, on the one hand, an
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of consciousness that are then said
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Note the radical nature of Adorno
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tasks of ideology: first, to mask t
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more intelligible but also to lead
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empirical subject. The transcendent
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something external to the individua
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Even the individual who explicitly
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others, and even her own self-under
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is “contradictory” and “false
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Moreover, even modern critiques of
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Einzelmensch, so wie er zu agieren
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says that the “fixity and invaria
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the subject-object relation. I cons
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the concrete living individual, exp
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Clarifying Adorno’s notion of ant
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structure of modern society maximiz
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the following points to be relative
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accordance with its own autonomous
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orthodox Freudianism, Adorno takes
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In this situation, autonomous ego-c
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Civil Society Let us now turn to an
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den Mann zu bringen, das heißt in
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elations of production inherently l
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according to which any one individu
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The State Finally, we need to consi
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The forces of production have indee
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Gewalt, der von Repression, wie ein
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political and even its military pow
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economic activity for global capita
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that social freedom, or the freedom
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and nature has actually become a th
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epression and domination for their
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case, Hegel’s model would remain
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how the potential can be fulfilled
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antagonistic relation to internal n
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Adorno’s conception of the antago
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The question I pursue in this and t
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local heteronomy, or total determin
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selbst waltende” [not merely the
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efusal to acknowledge social factor
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There is therefore a sort of social
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their own autonomously defined ends
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available to thought. By bringing t
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durch ihre einzelnen Momente hindur
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eality by the principle of exchange
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If a critical form of thought expos
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The following diagram illustrates t
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appearance and essence characterist
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Adorno’s famous statement that
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false or delusory. So, the idea tha
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it is also not merely ‘logically
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Hegel’s Science of Logic begins w
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In my view, the sublation [Aufhebun
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contingent historical development,
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further interpretation. This need f
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Marcuse’s builds his conception o
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essence gives way to a more develop
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(2) that there are tendencies alrea
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eality as a whole does not result i
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asking them to choose their prefere
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eality “in itself,” or essentia
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Since the contradiction between app
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appearance to essence. But the empi
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eflection to the study of social re
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nature, which constitutes social re
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objects, for the constitution of ob
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However, we do not yet know how the
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CHAPTER 5: A FREUDIAN INTERPRETATIO
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objects only to the extent that the
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it does not follow the rules of thi
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mechanism, namely paranoid projecti
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civilization and enlightenment has
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Adorno and Horkheimer see the Shoah
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thought has experienced a loss of e
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any objective appreciation and judg
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der Menschheit im Bann der technisc
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imagination exists that ‘reality
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esults in the radical creation of s
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of Adorno’s negative dialectics i
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that human beings on the average ca
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5.4.1 Development of civilization A
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The first stage of distance that Ad
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persuade it or “convince” it to
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much greater control over nature, b
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Threatening, wild nature is pushed
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stronger, and so became the exertio
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advanced capitalist societies is ne
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In his Vorlesung über Negative Dia
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Denken ineinsgesetzt, ohne dessen f
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instrumental reason. Stepping outsi
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een totally “civilized,” of all
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nature from the world; they repeat
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5.5 Conclusion This chapter has dev
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teleologically ordered structure th
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CHAPTER 6: THE DIALECTIC OF ENLIGHT
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6.1 The dialectic of enlightenment
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development of the modern period an
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necessitated by the very mechanism
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The interpretation of Dialektik der
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doing without society provides no a
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conception of historical developmen
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of the system and perhaps also taki
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alone, seemingly for its own sake.
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accordance with which social realit
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(3) Therefore, the result of regres
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from its beginnings in animism to h
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subsection (6.2.2), I briefly expla
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constraints to bring about the emer
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Just like the social-historical lev
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6.2.3 Adorno’s historical method:
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dans sa force et sa faiblesse, la s
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emplacements et de déplacements, d
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individual as ailing from a weak eg
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this point is worth emphasizing bec
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element is a necessary component of
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exchange). Moreover, I said that, f
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within, and constructs the world as
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would be the case if exchange was a
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But the relation of nature to socie
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Page 389 and 390: The two philosophical strands, or s
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anders als in der Sprache nicht ged
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an aesthetic (artistic) ability to
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The constellation provides a field,
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constellation succeeds, and in the
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Again in agreement, Benjamin and Ad
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Adorno’s basic disagreement with
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immediately related to the economic
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[B]eide sind die auseinandergerisse
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illumination of the phenomenon that
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Adorno says that “Die Formel daß
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echen: Ihre eigene, die rücksichts
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which nature mediates social realit
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concept,” and chapter 8 gave a fi
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eality—that is, the structure of
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conceptual tensions in the object a
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conceptual oppositions that arise f
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object,” as well as in the “con
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element and in terms of its interpr
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The logical structure of paranoid p
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I do want to conclude with some ref
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If Adorno is right, this abstract l
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that they repress the non-conceptua
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Works by Adorno in the
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---. Negative Dialectics. Translate
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---. “On Some Motifs in Baudelair
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---. “Neurosis and psychosis.”
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---. Capital, Vol. I. Translated by
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