Ontologie und Dialektik

by Theodor W. Adorno

Adornos Vorlesung von 1960/61 kann für jenes Buch über Heidegger stehen, das Adorno nicht geschrieben hat – und nicht schreiben wollte. Es ist zugleich die verspätete Ausführung eines Projekts, das Walter Benjamin schon um 1930, bald nach dem Erscheinen von Sein und Zeit, verfolgt hatte, ohne es je auszuführen: »den Heidegger zu zertrümmern«, wie er formulierte. Für Adorno bedurfte es nicht der Erinnerung an den Plan des Freundes; wie dieser hatte er bereits unmittelbar nach Erscheinen von Sein und Zeit, also längst vor Heideggers berüchtigter Rektoratsrede, reagiert und die Fundamentalontologie abgelehnt. In Heidegger sah er einen eher bescheidenen, darum freilich um so gefährlicheren Denker, der nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg zu seinem intellektuellen Gegenspieler wurde. Adorno hat Heideggers Denken vielfach der Kritik unterzogen, niemals und nirgends jedoch in der Form der politischen Denunziation, sondern indem er den Zusammenhang des philosophischen Gehalts mit dem politischen aufzeigte: als Plädoyer für Aufklärung und Rationalität.

Genres: Theory

446 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 2002

About the author

Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno was one of the most important philosophers and social critics in Germany after World War II. Although less well known among anglophone philosophers than his contemporary Hans-Georg Gadamer, Adorno had even greater influence on scholars and intellectuals in postwar Germany. In the 1960s he was the most prominent challenger to both Sir Karl Popper's philosophy of science and Martin Heidegger's philosophy of existence. Jürgen Habermas, Germany's foremost social philosopher after 1970, was Adorno's student and assistant. The scope of Adorno's influence stems from the interdisciplinary character of his research and of the Frankfurt School to which he belonged. It also stems from the thoroughness with which he examined Western philosophical traditions, especially from Kant onward, and the radicalness to his critique of contemporary Western society. He was a seminal social philosopher and a leading member of the first generation of Critical Theory.

Unreliable translations hampered the initial reception of Adorno's published work in English speaking countries. Since the 1990s, however, better translations have appeared, along with newly translated lectures and other posthumous works that are still being published. These materials not only facilitate an emerging assessment of his work in epistemology and ethics but also strengthen an already advanced reception of his work in aesthetics and cultural theory.

Reviews

[Volbet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant critique of Heideggerian phenomenology, ontology and epistemology. While Adorno does a great job at tearing into modern ontology, he does little to establish dialectics as a viable alternative. For that we have to read Negative Dialectics.