Theodor W. Adorno Research Papers (original) (raw)
Re-framing the concepts of utopia and allegory in the twenty-first century.
Claude Eatherly, pilota e metereologo, era un ragazzo texano di 27 anni quando ordinò lo sgancio della prima bomba atomica della storia, Little Boy, che colpì Hiroshima il 6 agosto 1945. Nonostante la giovane età, non era certo un... more
Claude Eatherly, pilota e metereologo,
era un ragazzo texano di
27 anni quando ordinò lo sgancio
della prima bomba atomica della
storia, Little Boy, che colpì Hiroshima
il 6 agosto 1945.
Nonostante la giovane età, non
era certo un dilettante: per quella
missione vennero scelti i migliori
piloti della US Army, e Eatherly
aveva già dato prova del suo valore
militare, abbattendo, nel corso
della sua fulminante carriera,
più di trenta aerei nemici. Dopo
lo sgancio della bomba, tuttavia,
lasciò l’esercito e rifi utò qualsiasi
riconoscimento al valore da parte
degli Stati Uniti. Compì anche
maldestre rapine e altri piccoli
crimini, con la speranza di trovare
sollievo nel biasimo collettivo. Ma
ciò non bastò a placare i suoi dilanianti
sensi di colpa e Eatherly
venne internato in un ospedale
psichiatrico. Fu in questo momento,
quattordici anni dopo Hiroshima,
che iniziò un carteggio con
Günther Anders, il fi losofo tedesco
autore del capolavoro L’uomo
è antiquato. Il risultato è questo
libro: un commovente scambio
epistolare tra Anders e un’anima
persa, in cerca di un’espiazione
tanto impossibile quanto necessaria.
Dopo anni di assenza dalle
librerie, torna disponibile una delle
testimonianze più toccanti sul
disastro che cambiò per sempre
la coscienza collettiva.
Prólogo a Th. W. Adorno: Problemas de Filosofía Moral. Buenos Aires: Las Cuarenta. 2019
La teoría crítica rechaza el mundo dado intentando ver más allá. Al reflexionar sobre el arte tenemos también que distinguir entre una teoría acrítica, esto es, afirmativa, y una teoría crítica que rechaza el arte dado para mirar más... more
La teoría crítica rechaza el mundo dado intentando ver más allá. Al reflexionar sobre el arte tenemos también que distinguir entre una teoría acrítica, esto es, afirmativa, y una teoría crítica que rechaza el arte dado para mirar más allá. La teoría crítica del arte no se puede limitar a recibir e interpretar el arte, siendo ésta la forma que la teoría del arte adopta bajo el capitalismo. Debe reconocer que el arte, tal y como se institucionaliza y practica hoy día-bussines as usual, en el actual "mundo del arte"-, es, en el sentido más profundo e inevitable, "arte bajo el capitalismo", esto es, arte bajo el dominio capitalista. La teoría crítica deberá orientarse en cambio hacia una ruptura clara con el arte que el capitalismo ha sometido. La primera tarea de la teoría crítica del arte es comprender cómo el arte dado sirve de apoyo al orden dado. Debe exponer y analizar las actuales funciones del arte bajo el capitalismo. ¿Qué hace toda la esfera de actividad que llamamos arte? Cualquier teoría crítica del arte debe comenzar entendiendo que la actividad del arte en sus formas actuales es contradictoria. El "mundo del arte" es el espacio donde tiene lugar una enorme movilización de creatividad e invención que se canaliza a la producción, recepción y circulación de obras de arte. Las instituciones artísticas manejan el conjunto de esta producción de varias maneras, aunque dicha conducción, por lo general, no es directamente coercitiva. El mercado del arte ejerce, ciertamente, una fuerte presión mediante formas de selección que el artista o la artista no pueden ignorar si desean forjarse una carrera. Pero, en tanto que individuos, el artista o la artista son relativamente libres de elegir qué quieren hacer de acuerdo con su concepción de lo que es el arte. Son libres de hacer lo que les plazca, aun al precio de no vender ni alcanzar la fama. El arte, por tanto, no ha abandonado su pretensión histórica de ser autónomo en el seno de la sociedad capitalista; aún hoy día podemos comprobar por doquier, empíricamente, la manera en que opera esta autonomía relativa. Por otra parte, quien ejerza la teoría crítica está obligado a observar que el arte, visto como un todo, es un factor de estabilización en la vida social. La existencia de un arte que se produce con apariencia de libertad y en gran abundancia acredita el orden dado. El arte sigue siendo una joya en la corona del poder, y cuanto más rico, espléndido y exuberante es, tanto más afirma el status quo. Puede que la realidad material de la sociedad capitalista consista en una guerra de todos contra todos; en el arte, empero, los impulsos utópicos cuya realización se ve bloqueada en la vida cotidiana encuentran una formalización social ordenada. Las instituciones artísticas son capaces de articular una gran variedad de actividades y agentes en una unidad sistémica compleja; el sistema-arte capitalista funciona como un subsistema del sistema-mundo capitalista. No cabe duda de que alguna de estas actividades y productos artísticos son abiertamente críticos y políticamente comprometidos. Pero si se lo considera como un todo, el sistema artístico es afirmativo[1], en el sentido de que convierte la totalidad de las obras y prácticas artísticas-la suma de todo lo que fluye a través de estos circuitos de producción y recepción-en "legitimación simbólica" (por tomar en préstamo la adecuada expresión de Pierre Bourdieu[2]) de la sociedad de clases. Lo consigue alentando los impulsos autónomos del arte mientras simultáneamente neutraliza políticamente lo que esos impulsos producen. Modernismo francfortiano Los teóricos de la Escuela de Francfort fueron los pioneros en la elaboración de una comprensión dialéctica del arte. Herbert Marcuse, Max Horkheimer y Theodor W. Adorno nos mostraron cómo el arte bajo el
Der Rezensent hat schon mehrfach Gelegenheit gehabt, darauf hinzuwei-sen, daß Adornos Vorlesungen eine ausgesprochen gute Möglichkeit bie-ten, sich mit dessen Denken zu beschäftigen. 1 Da man so virtuell die Chance erhält, sich... more
Der Rezensent hat schon mehrfach Gelegenheit gehabt, darauf hinzuwei-sen, daß Adornos Vorlesungen eine ausgesprochen gute Möglichkeit bie-ten, sich mit dessen Denken zu beschäftigen. 1 Da man so virtuell die Chance erhält, sich nachträglich als Hörer zu fühlen, ist allein deswegen die Edition zu begrüßen, 2 auch wenn es freilich nicht zu erwarten steht, daß Ador-no für die aktuelle Diskussion der Erkenntnistheorie im eigentlichen Sinne von großem Gewicht sein dürfte. 3 Adorno bezieht sich von vornherein auf
Resumen: En este trabajo se pretende mostrar el sentido político que adquirió la defensa de la teoría por parte de Adorno en los últimos años de su vida. Él empleó esta defensa como una respuesta a los imperativos de los estudiantes de... more
Resumen: En este trabajo se pretende mostrar el sentido político que adquirió la defensa de la teoría por parte de Adorno en los últimos años de su vida. Él empleó esta defensa como una respuesta a los imperativos de los estudiantes de izquierda de plegar la teoría crítica a la intervención práctica inmediata. Para justificar esta tesis se atiende no sólo a lo que decía, sino también, en un nivel discursivo diferen-te, a lo que estaba haciendo cuando empleaba concentraciones de términos y enun-ciados densos y eruditos para manifestarse. Esto lleva a incluir las reflexiones y valoraciones de Adorno referentes a la actitud teorética y a la praxis, principalmen-te aquellas esbozadas en Dialéctica negativa, en un contexto más amplio. Abstract: This work pretends to show the political sense that the defense of the theory by Adorno acquired in the last years of his life. He used this defense as an answer to the students's imperatives of applying the critical theory to the immediate practical intervention. In order to justify this thesis will be considered not only what Adorno said, but also, in a different discursive level, what he was doing on having used concentrations of terms and dense and erudite declarations. This entails, then, to relate Adorno's reflections and assessments concerning to the theoretical and
The publication of the correspondence between Theodor W. Adorno and Gershom Scholem in 2015 is a major landmark, offering fresh insights into their personalities and the remarkable intellectual relationship and growing personal friendship... more
The publication of the correspondence between Theodor W. Adorno and Gershom Scholem in 2015 is a major landmark, offering fresh insights into their personalities and the remarkable intellectual relationship and growing personal friendship between them. In this short piece, some of the evidence for the intensity of the relationship between Adorno and Scholem is presented, followed by a discussion of their shared emphatic negation of the notion that any such thing as a 'German-Jewish Dialogue' had existed prior to 1933. Henceforth, anyone who wants to continue dismissing Scholem's remarks about the non-existence of a 'German-Jewish dialogue' prior to 1933 out of hand in the cavalier fashion in which it has become commonplace to do so will need to reckon not only with Scholem but also with Adorno.
Beginning classical social theory introduces students and educated general readers to thirteen key social theorists by way of examining a single, exemplary text by each author, ranging from Comte to Adorno. It answers the need for a book... more
Beginning classical social theory introduces students and educated general readers to thirteen key social theorists by way of examining a single, exemplary text by each author, ranging from Comte to Adorno. It answers the need for a book that helps students develop the skill to critically read theory. Rather than learning how to admire the canonical theorists, readers are alerted to the flow of their arguments and the texts' contradictions and limitations. Having gotten 'under the skin' of one key text by each author will provide readers with a solid starting point for further study.
Contents:
1 Introduction: If it is not mysterious, it is not social theory
2 The well-planned reorganisation of society: Auguste Comte
3 If you can't beat democracy, join it: Alexis de Tocqueville
4 Pariahs of the world, unite!: Flora Tristan
5 Capitalist modernity is the real savagery: Karl Marx
6 The conflict of community and society: Ferdinand Tönnies
7 There is some Thing out there: Emile Durkheim
8 The double consciousness: W. E. B. Du Bois
9 From good to bad capitalism and back: Max Weber
10 Strangers who are from here: Georg Simmel
11 Love, marriage and patriarchy: Marianne Weber
12 Critical versus traditional theory: Max Horkheimer
13 What is a woman, and who is asking anyway: Simone de Beauvoir
14 Society as mediation: Theodor W. Adorno
El objetivo de este artículo será proponer una revisión de la dialéctica sujeto-objeto como eje central del pensamiento de Theodor W. Adorno y núcleo en el que desarrollar su interpretación crítica de la absolutización de la identidad que... more
El objetivo de este artículo será proponer una revisión de la dialéctica sujeto-objeto como eje central del pensamiento de Theodor W. Adorno y núcleo en el que desarrollar su interpretación crítica de la absolutización de la identidad que tiene lugar en las filosofías modernas del sujeto. Frente a ellas, pero también frente a las posiciones contrarias esbozadas por el positivismo o la ontología heideggeriana, Adorno adoptará como salida el reconocimiento de la «prioridad del objeto» desde el esbozo de una nueva imagen de la subjetividad que reconozca su relación dialéctica y material con lo objetivo
Herbert Spencer’s grave faces Marx’s at Highgate Cemetery in London. What would the 19th century liberal, utilitarian and social Darwinist, Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), who was perhaps the most prominent, widely read and popular... more
Herbert Spencer’s grave faces Marx’s at Highgate Cemetery in London. What would the 19th century liberal, utilitarian and social Darwinist, Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), who was perhaps the most prominent, widely read and popular philosopher in the world during his lifetime - that is, in Marx’s lifetime - have to say to Marxists or more generally to the left, when such liberalism earned not only Marx’s own scorn but also Nietzsche’s criticism? We cannot assume as Marx did that we are already past Spencer’s classical liberalism, but are driven back to it, ineluctably, whether we realize it or not. Only by returning to the assumptions of classical liberalism can we understand Marx’s critique of it. The glare of Marx’s tomb at Highgate stares down upon a very determinate object. If one disappears, they both do.
Form und Satz in Adornos Ästhetischer Theorie Bemerkenswert viele Sätze in Adornos Ästhetischer Theorie finden schon im weitgespannten Spektrum seiner früheren Schriften wiederholten Aus-druck. Kann man das Buch also als Kulminationspunkt... more
Form und Satz in Adornos Ästhetischer Theorie Bemerkenswert viele Sätze in Adornos Ästhetischer Theorie finden schon im weitgespannten Spektrum seiner früheren Schriften wiederholten Aus-druck. Kann man das Buch also als Kulminationspunkt seines Lebens-werks lesen? In gewissem Sinne ja. Mit seiner posthumen Veröffentlichung hat es ein Eigenleben angenommen, obwohl es zum Zeitpunkt des unzeiti-gen Todes seines Verfassers unvollendet war. Es steht viel, ja, zu viel in der Ästhetischen Theorie. Auch wenn die ersten Herausgeber die Aufgabe, ei-nen kohärenten Text herzustellen, hervorragend gelöst haben (wobei Ko-härenz eines der Themen des Buches ist), bleibt das Gefühl, dass eine wei-tere Überarbeitung von Adornos eigener Hand ihm jene Art von Klarheit verliehen hätte, die er in den Büchern erreichte, die er zu seinen Lebzeiten veröffentlichte. Ich denke hier weniger an die gedankliche Deutlichkeit je-ner wunderbaren universitären Vorlesungen, die er als Vorbereitung auf die Abfassung des Buches hielt, sondern mehr an die expressive Prägnanz, die mit der Form des Essays verbunden ist, einer Form, mit der Adorno be-trächtliche Erfahrung hatte. Die Essayform passt gut zu dem Eindruck, dass er die Kapitel der Ästhetischen Theorie aus mehr oder weniger in sich geschlossenen Passagen erarbeitet hat, die manchmal als aphoristisch be-zeichnet werden-ein Hinweis darauf, dass jede von ihnen, wie in Benja-mins Passagenwerk oder Adornos eigener Minima Moralia, ein gedankli-ches Abbild der Welt enthält oder dass, in ihrem Oszillieren zwischen Gedrängtheit und Anmerkungscharakter, jede von ihnen sich dem enigma-tischen Wesen der Paralipomena Schopenhauers, der Diapsalmata Kier-kegaards und der fröhlichen Abschnitte Nietzsches nähert. Als nächstes möchte ich fragen, ob es vielleicht gerade Adornos spezi-fische Art und Weise der Auseinandersetzung mit ästhetischer Theorie war, die es ihm unmöglich machte, eben dieses Buch endgültig fertigzustellen. Es hat mir lange zu denken gegeben, dass es Adorno, obwohl er sich drei-ßig Jahre lang mit der Absicht trug, nie gelang, jenes Buch zu vollenden, in dem er Beethoven in den Mittelpunkt seiner Philosophie der Musik gestellt hätte. Bücher über Wagner, Mahler und Berg, aber warum nicht dieses? Für Adorno deutet bereits die Idee einer ästhetischen Theorie, die Art und Weise, wie die beiden Begriffe ästhetisch und Theorie zwangsläufig in ei-nem produktiv-destruktiven Widerspruch zueinander stehen, darauf hin, Brought to you by | Columbia University Libraries
A commentary on the section »Schein und Ausdruck« of Adorno's Aesthetic Theory.
Composing for the Films, written by Theodor W. Adorno and Hanns Eisler in 1947, seems to have been consigned to a fate of oblivion. The reasons could be related to the controversy about the authorship... more
Composing for the Films, written by Theodor W. Adorno and Hanns Eisler in 1947, seems to have been consigned to a fate of oblivion. The reasons could be related to the controversy about the authorship of the work or to the fact that it contains condensed theses that some consider outdated or, again, to the preference given to themes such as dodecaphonic music, fetishism in music, jazz or pop music considered more relevant. On closer examination, however, this essay reveals a tendentially underestimated importance that lies in the fact that it summarizes the theses that Adorno elaborates in relation to mass music (pop music and jazz) and those related to the cultural industry. It is then interesting, fifty years after Adorno’s death, to restore dignity and centrality to Composing for the Films, also by virtue of the attempt, which perhaps elsewhere does not appear with equal sincerity, to mediate between music and technology
Dai tempi di Aristotele fino alla prima metà del Novecento, occuparsi di fenomeni culturali, studiare culture passate o esistenti, ricostruirne la storia e analizzarne linguaggi, produzioni e tradizioni ha significato occuparsi... more
Dai tempi di Aristotele fino alla prima metà del Novecento, occuparsi di fenomeni culturali, studiare culture passate o esistenti, ricostruirne la storia e analizzarne linguaggi, produzioni e tradizioni ha significato occuparsi esclusivamente di culture umane, e l’uomo è stato considerato l’unico “animale culturale”. Oggi, a poco più di mezzo secolo dall’inizio di quella rivoluzione scientifica che, negli anni Sessanta, condusse alla scoperta dell’esistenza di tradizioni e usi differenziati in varie specie di primati, cetacei e uccelli, anche se l’etologia culturale è disciplina ancora giovanissima, possiamo considerare ampiamente riscontrata l’ipotesi dell’esistenza di culture non umane, e altamente probabile che tutte le specie di mammiferi e uccelli sociali esistenti abbiano sviluppato al proprio interno, da milioni di anni, diverse tradizioni comportamentali e comunicative.1 Sappiamo, altresì, che tali differenziazioni degli usi, tramandate attraverso l’apprendimento sociale in diverse popolazioni di una medesima specie, non sono prerogativa esclusiva di mammiferi e uccelli. Ricerche svolte negli ultimi quaranta anni hanno evidenziato l’esistenza di tradizioni locali intraspecifiche in varie spe
1Come vengono definiti oggi i concetti di “cultura” e “tradizione” in ambito etologico? “Chiamiamo «tratti culturali» quei modelli di comportamento condivisi da membri di popolazioni animali che dipendono in qualche misura da apprendimenti socialmente mediati e informazioni socialmente trasmesse. Chiamiamo «variazione culturale» quelle differenze fenotipiche tra individui, osservate all’interno di, o tra, popolazioni, che sono in qualche misura, attribuibili a differenze socialmente apprese. Usiamo i termini «tradizione» e «cultura» come sinonimi»” (Laland, Kendal, Kendal 2009, pp. 178, 179; traduzione mia).
10
ANIMAL STUDIES 26 cie di pesci teleostei, in particolare tra specie delle grandi barriere coralline (Helfman, Schulz 1984; Bshary, Wickler 2002; Laland, Atton, Webster 2011), e ciò fa pensare che fenomeni analoghi potrebbero essere riscontrabili in tutti i vertebrati acquatici e terrestri, che dai pesci ossei derivano.
It seems obvious that Nietzsche has influenced the Dialectic of Enlightenment (1947). The extent to which Adorno and Horkheimer base their argument on Nietzsche, however, remains controversial. By analyzing an early draft of the first... more
It seems obvious that Nietzsche has influenced the Dialectic of Enlightenment (1947). The extent to which Adorno and Horkheimer base their argument on Nietzsche, however, remains controversial. By analyzing an early draft of the first excursion of the Dialectic of Enlightenment from 1943, this article demonstrates that Nietzsche was more important for the development of its main concepts than has been assumed, in particular his analysis of myth and enlightenment. In the earlier version of the Ulysses-chapter Nietzsche, together with Rudolf Borchardt, is a pivotal point of reference. Indeed, it is the Nietzschean reflection on Homer and on the pre-Homerian epic-and Borchardt's interpretation of these themes-that Adorno views as the first original form of the dialectics of enlightenment.
This short paper aims at situating the contribution of Adorno in the perspective of a communication ethics that has inherited from Habermas but also from Buber and others. Therefore it looks back to ask if there are and what are the... more
This short paper aims at situating the contribution of Adorno in the perspective of a communication ethics that has inherited from Habermas but also from Buber and others. Therefore it looks back to ask if there are and what are the remaining elements provided by the first Frankfurt School after the fundational drive.
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This is a collection of twenty-seven of Theodor Adorno's essays on music, some newly translated for this volume (twelve translated into English for the first time by Susan Gillespie). The essays are grouped into four sections, each... more
This is a collection of twenty-seven of Theodor Adorno's essays on music, some newly translated for this volume (twelve translated into English for the first time by Susan Gillespie). The essays are grouped into four sections, each preceded by Richard Leppert's commentary: "Locating Music: Society, Modernity, and the New"; "Culture, Technology, and Listening"; "Music and Mass Culture"; and "Composition, Composers, and Works." Leppert has also contributed an introductory essay that is both biography and introduction to "the intellectual tradition within which Adorno's thought developed" (vii). The earliest of the essays dates from 1927, the latest from 1969 (the year of Adorno's death).
Essays in Philosophy, Vol. 4 No. 2, June 2003
Der 2004 verstorbene Judaistik-Professor Hyam Maccoby liefert in seinem Werk eine „anthropologische“ (Maccoby 2019, 177) Analyse der Entstehung des Antisemitismus. Der anthropologische Zugang, so Maccoby, befasst sich mit Mythen und... more
Der 2004 verstorbene Judaistik-Professor Hyam Maccoby liefert in seinem Werk eine „anthropologische“ (Maccoby 2019, 177) Analyse der Entstehung des Antisemitismus. Der anthropologische Zugang, so Maccoby, befasst sich mit Mythen und Bräuchen vornehmlich vormoderner Gesellschaften in vergleichender Perspektive. Im Zentrum stehen dabei Opferkulte und Kastenstrukturen, die herangezogen werden, um die Spezifik der Judenfeindschaft zu untersuchen. Die vergleichende Perspektive führt Maccoby dazu, gegen postkoloniale Nivellierungen oder bloße Xenophobie-Theorien (177, 219), die Spezifik des Antisemitismus herauszuarbeiten, die ihm zufolge in der einmaligen Kombination auch anderweitig anzutreffender Elemente besteht, nämlich des bestimmten Usurpationsmythos einer siegreichen Mehrheit, eines theologisch-gesellschaftlich begründeten Pariastatus einer Minderheit und des Mythos vom „Heiligen Henker“. (216)
藝術的真理內涵經常來自對不可能性的覺察。筆墨的藝術，尤其是書法或山水畫，不得不面對自己歷史文化的（不）可能性條件。在現代化的強大壓力之下，書法與山水畫的主要載體，即文人生活美學，幾乎一無所剩。倘若要展開文人文化之當今處境的自我反思，則必須面臨此一「幾無」的絕境。針對相關難題，本文進行一實驗性的探索。第一節從阿多諾所謂微觀形上學概念出發，思考「即內在即超越」觀念的當代困境。第二節討論畫家林壽宇的作品，指出其「抽象山水畫」在無餘中拯救了「平淡」的境界。第三節轉到阿多諾對自然與超自... more
藝術的真理內涵經常來自對不可能性的覺察。筆墨的藝術，尤其是書法或山水畫，不得不面對自己歷史文化的（不）可能性條件。在現代化的強大壓力之下，書法與山水畫的主要載體，即文人生活美學，幾乎一無所剩。倘若要展開文人文化之當今處境的自我反思，則必須面臨此一「幾無」的絕境。針對相關難題，本文進行一實驗性的探索。第一節從阿多諾所謂微觀形上學概念出發，思考「即內在即超越」觀念的當代困境。第二節討論畫家林壽宇的作品，指出其「抽象山水畫」在無餘中拯救了「平淡」的境界。第三節轉到阿多諾對自然與超自然之關係的闡釋。第四節以蔣三石的山水作品為例，反思文人的古典自然觀發生當代轉化的一種可能。
The famous Theory of the Half-Education is an essay in which Adorno made a ruthless diagnosis of the current situation of culture. The Bildung was universally transformed into socialized Halbbildung. What is to be done? Traditionally,... more
The famous Theory of the Half-Education is an essay in which Adorno made a ruthless diagnosis of the current situation of culture. The Bildung was universally transformed into socialized Halbbildung. What is to be done? Traditionally, Adorno has always been reluctant to propose practical references, and he has often been accused of having endorsed a real "split" between theory and practice. However, his contributions to the education debate, there is no lack of indications and suggestions. In his conversations with Hellmut Becker, in the writings and university lectures of the 1960s, it is possible to identify an emancipatory and didactic strategy based on the re-evaluation of the art of reading. Riassunto-La celebre Teoria della Halbbildung oltre a essere il testo più sistematico che Adorno abbia dedica-to ai problemi della pedagogia e dell'educazione, è anche un saggio in cui ha compiuto una diagnosi spietata dell'attuale situazione della cultura. La Bildung è universalmente decaduta ad Halbbildung socializzata. Che fa-re? Tradizionalmente Adorno è sempre stato molto avaro di riferimenti pratici, tanto che è stato spesso accusato di aver avallato una vera e propria "scissione" tra teoria e prassi. Eppure, nei suoi interventi sull'educazione le in-dicazioni e i suggerimenti non mancano. Nei colloqui con Hellmut Becker, negli scritti e nelle lezioni universitarie degli anni Sessanta, è possibile individuare una strategia emancipativa e didattica centrata sulla rivalutazione dell'arte della lettura. Filippo Domenicali, dottore in filosofia, è docente di ruolo di filosofia e storia nei licei e contrattista di Filosofia teoretica presso il Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici dell'Università di Ferrara. Si è occupato prevalentemente del pensiero moderno e contemporaneo, da una prospettiva teoretica e politico-sociale, privilegiando autori prove-nienti dall'area del cosiddetto "post-strutturalismo" francese. L'ultimo volume pubblicato si intitola Biopolitica e li-bertà. Dieci capitoli su Foucault (2018).
Adorno’s Minima Moralia was part of a publishing boom in the genre of advice literature in postwar West Germany. The combination of economic resurgence and attempted cultural restoration resulted in a widespread wish to master forming... more
Adorno’s Minima Moralia was part of a publishing boom in the genre of advice literature in postwar West Germany. The combination of economic resurgence and attempted cultural restoration resulted in a widespread wish to master forming models of social intercourse; this craving for guidance accounts for the volume’s commercial success. But while Adorno participates in the culture of counseling, he couples practical suggestions with repeated announcements of the demise of the self-determining subject, the projected recipient of advice. He addresses problems that appear in the individual’s frame of attention but consistently disputes that this is a meaningful scene of action in the age of total administration. Minima Moralia both inhabits and violates the conventions of advice literature in order to dramatize the experience of the discrepancy between societal logic and the individual’s resources.
Illustrious is the roll of those who have made prescriptions and predictions declaring that poetry has had its day. Plato wanted to keep poets out of his ideal republic. Love Peacock, Shelley's friend, thought poetry has little place in... more
Illustrious is the roll of those who have made prescriptions and predictions declaring that poetry has had its day. Plato wanted to keep poets out of his ideal republic. Love Peacock, Shelley's friend, thought poetry has little place in the modern age of progress and reason. Literary critics like Harold Bloom and Geoffrey Hartman theorize about the demise of poetry after the unsurpassable achievements of Wordsworth and Blake. Theodor Adorno declared that there could be no poetry after Auschwitz, and today many hold that new poets cannot make themselves heard or read amid the cacophony arising from today's World Wide Web, popular culture and advertising trivia. Somehow poetry hangs on. Why? Ultimately this question boils down to the issue of the connection, if any, between literature, especially poetry, and life. This issue in turn cannot be extricated from a study of methods of interpreting literary texts
Adornos Praxis des Philosophierens hat ihr Modell an einem Paradigma, das die Erfahrung von Kunstwerken nahe legte. Sie erwächst der kritischen Einsicht in die Insuffizienz herkömmlicher, begrifflicher Identifikation und der daraus... more
There are three important points contained in this part of the book. The first is about the work of Adorno on the culture industry and popular music as well as the background, the second is the argument about the difference in popular... more
There are three important points contained in this part of the book. The first is about the work of Adorno on the culture industry and popular music as well as the background, the second is the argument about the difference in popular music with other music, and the third is about the position of popular music in society. Firstly, it discusses more focused on the work of Adorno on the culture industry and popular music as well as the background. The key importance of the work on music of Adorno, "The culture industry is central agency in contemporary capitalism for the production and satisfaction of false needs and Adorno's analysis is a challenge to those who seek to recognize some value in pop music " (as cited in Fifth, p.4). The background of the analysis is a critique of Marxist theory about capitalism which not only cause changes in social life but also impact on the industry, for example the culture industry. The culture industry makes the "culture" as a valuable commodity that can be sold to the market and have the prospect of becoming profit. When something has become a commodity and entered the market, it means the commodity has been made in accordance with the wishes of the market and this led to the standardization of commodities. It also let to the standardization of products of the culture industry. Secondly, it discusses the argument about the difference of popular music with other music. Adorno said that, " The popular music is a part of culture industry" (p.4, para.4). Pop music in his view is a standardized product either type of songs, songs and parts of songs Themselves (p. 5). He also added that the part of piece of popular music are interchangeable. It is based on his analysis by comparing popular music with serious music. He emphasized that the difference between the two relates to issues of the market and the context in the which music is produced and consumed.
Early academic article on McCartney's songs during/after the Beatles. This focuses on themes of time and nostalgia alongside musical innovation in a selection of McCartney songs, 1963-2001. Some of my later publications on McCartney (and... more
Early academic article on McCartney's songs during/after the Beatles. This focuses on themes of time and nostalgia alongside musical innovation in a selection of McCartney songs, 1963-2001. Some of my later publications on McCartney (and Lennon) are also available on my academia.edu page.
“Autonomy of art” is emphasized in Western art since nineteenth century. The autonomy of art means: The development and existence of art should aim at beauty and art itself and not at the factors external to it, e.g. religious rituals,... more
“Autonomy of art” is emphasized in Western art since nineteenth century. The autonomy of art means: The development and existence of art should aim at beauty and art itself and not at the factors external to it, e.g. religious rituals, political propagandas or commercial profits. This thesis indicates artist’s freedom of creation and the objective independence of the existence of art work. The emphasis on the autonomy of art is always the core of Adorno’s aesthetics and philosophy of art. Some scholars, however, doubt the universalizability of this claim and Adorno’s insistence on it. This paper tries to indicate: Adorno’s claim on the autonomy of art, however, is not just a formal demand, but related to his philosophical stance, critique of Enlightenment and the promotion of humanity.
Im Mittelpunkt des Beitrags steht die Frage, inwiefern Strukturen und Praxen der stationären Behindertenhilfe mit Adornos „Erziehung nach Auschwitz“ (1966/1971a) (neu) verstanden werden können. Dabei soll problematisiert werden, inwiefern... more
Im Mittelpunkt des Beitrags steht die Frage, inwiefern Strukturen und Praxen der stationären Behindertenhilfe mit Adornos „Erziehung nach Auschwitz“ (1966/1971a) (neu) verstanden werden können. Dabei soll problematisiert werden, inwiefern pädagogisches Handeln in der Behindertenhilfe – hier vergegenständlicht am Beispiel des stationären Wohnens von Menschen mit geistiger Behinderung – sich oftmals in totalen Strukturrahmen, fremdbestimmenden Praxen sowie einer drohenden Institutionalisierung und Bürokratisierung vollzieht (siehe u.a. Trescher, 2017a, S. 161-162). Diese Strukturmerkmale können im Lichte dessen gelesen werden, was Adorno als „Prinzip von Auschwitz“ (Adorno, 1966/1971a, S. 93) charakterisiert und als Ermöglichungsbedingungen totaler Herrschaft versteht. Hierdurch sollen
selbstredend keinesfalls die Praxen der Behindertenhilfe mit den nationalsozialistischen Verbrechen gleichgesetzt werden. Vielmehr sollen die Fremdbestimmung und tiefgreifend verflochtenen, oft subjektiv wirkmächtig werdenden Abhängigkeiten benannt werden, denen Menschen mit geistiger Behinderung im Alltag immer wieder gegenüberstehen. Dabei entsteht – auch wenn nicht intendiert bzw. gegenteilig intendiert – oft allein durch politischbürokratisch-formalisierte Abläufe ein Prinzip von (für das Subjekt) fremder
Herrschaft. Strukturen und Praxen der stationären Behindertenhilfe werden durch unterschiedliche Inanspruchnahmen und Interessen hervorgebracht, die sich teils ambivalent zueinander verhalten können.
There has been a burgeoning interest in the sociology of the Frankfurt School as well as the oeuvre of Theodor W. Adorno since the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump. The objectives of this study are to both illustrate the... more
There has been a burgeoning interest in the sociology of the Frankfurt School as well as the oeuvre of Theodor W. Adorno since the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump. The objectives of this study are to both illustrate the enduring importance of Adorno and to provide an important theoretical outline in making sense of Trump’s 2016 United States presidential campaign. Using Adorno’s understudied textual analysis of the radio addresses of Martin Luther Thomas and data from Trump’s 2016 US presidential campaign, we find that Trump’s own discourse can be condensed into three of Adorno’s rhetorical devices: (1) the lone wolf device or anti-statism/pseudo-conservatism, reflecting his criticism of “special interests” and his appraisal of business and (self-)finance; (2) the movement device, which amounted to glorification of action; and (3) the exactitude of error device which amounted to xenophobic, ethnonationalist hyperbole.