Metaphysics: Concept and Problems

by Theodor W. Adorno, Rolf Tiedemann (Editor), Edmund Jephcott (Translation)

This volume makes available in English for the first time Adorno's lectures on metaphysics. It provides a unique introduction not only to metaphysics but also to Adorno's own intellectual standpoint, as developed in his major work Negative Dialectics. Metaphysics for Adorno is defined by a central tension between concepts and immediate facts. Adorno traces this dualism back to Aristotle, whom he sees as the founder of metaphysics. In Aristotle it appears as an unresolved tension between form and matter. This basic split, in Adorno's interpretation, runs right through the history of metaphysics. Perhaps not surprisingly, Adorno finds this tension resolved in the Hegelian dialectic. Underlying this dualism is a further dichotomy, which Adorno sees as essential to while it dissolves belief in transcendental worlds by thought, at the same time it seeks to rescue belief in a reality beyond the empirical, again by thought. It is to this profound ambiguity, for Adorno, that the metaphysical tradition owes its greatness. The major part of these lectures, given by Adorno late in his life, is devoted to a critical exposition of Aristotle's thought, focusing on its central ambiguities. In the last lectures, Adorno's attention switches to the question of the relevance of metaphysics today, particularly after the Holocaust. He finds in metaphysical experiences, which transcend rational discourse without lapsing into irrationalism, a last precarious refuge of the humane truth to which his own thought always aspired. This volume will be essential reading for anyone interested in Adorno's work and will be a valuable text for students and scholars of philosophy and social theory.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Theory, Ebooks, Essays, Germany

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

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

[Tommy · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is an American saying that there are no atheists in the trenches; the old German proverb that danger teaches us to pray points in the same direction... This argument is illogical because the situations in which people are forced to think ‘positively’ simply in order to survive are themselves situations of compulsion, which force people back on pure self-preservation, and on thinking only what they need to in order to survive in such a situation, to a point where the truth content of what they think is hopelessly undermined and utterly destroyed.

It is through Aristotle that Adorno steps into this discussion of Metaphysics. And this door was quite an insightful point to begin at since certain thoughts regarding teleology and a negation of reality had been playing around in my head. Adorno brilliantly crystallizes these two different concepts by showing that they aren't different; in fact, as Adorno says, when it comes to Metaphysics no concepts exist in isolation from another. It is not exactly a detailed analysis of Metaphysics that Adorno offers, but more a delineation of certain tendencies that have penetrated our thinking. It is to ground thinking in reality that Adorno attempts.

Towards the end, once this particular free floating nature of Metaphysics is called out, Adorno calls attention to cultural shifts primarily post WW-II and how it affects not just our attitude towards Metaphysics but also it's very content: A certain tendency for affirmation that it propounds even when the world is in no state for such naïve optimism and this tendency originates precisely from a detachment from this world and an escape into something timeless. But is this simply a repudiation of all Metaphysics? Not exactly. As Adorno says Metaphysics is both an enterprise that destroys and builds and towards the end, after all the criticisms, perhaps, there is a way to build something, something more grounded. Or perhaps not.

[Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the best philosophy I’ve ever read; a real privilege.

[Jade Aslain · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the greatest work on metaphysics I have ever read. Not Spinoza, nor Schopenhauer, nor Hegel, nor Heidegger. Adorno! It is no wonder this book is rated so highly. Not only that it is this significant contribution to metaphysics, but it is the strongest viewpoint from which to read the rest of Adorno's project which culminates in Negative Dialectics.

[Henrique Valle]

finalmente terminei essa porra

[Ethan]

What a thrill it would have been to be there during these lectures.

[Hackneyeyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book that though appearing to be an introduction, also takes you deep into this difficult subject. Based on lecture notes for students, the language is simple and driven by a desire to be understood. One memorable definition of metaphysics is that the same concepts used to destroy our conceptual thinking of the world, are saved to produce new ones. This tension is traced through the Greek's objective idealism to our modern age of subjectivity. Read this book and let the everyday world float away - and return.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A facinating yet conflicted series of lectures on metaphysics. Primarily through the lens of Aristotle, Adorno weaves between the dilemma of metaphysics after Auschwitz. If metaphysics allows us to get beyond the immedicacy of ideology, and if metaphysics itself alienates itself from reality in the pursuit of some rational higher absolute, which standpoint is the least troublesome? Adorno doesn’t give any easy answers as he seems to be just as troubled by these questions. In his own aporia, Adorno raises himself above the dogmatists and ideologists of modern philosophy.

[Ali.cheaib · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of lectures by famous critical social theorist, Theodore Adorno, unravels the controversies surrounding the concepts attached to metaphysical philosophy. Adorno dissects the topic with precision only a few skilled theorists can do. Adorno took me on beautiful ride of this important body of knowledge that is controversial but in this book becomes a bit more understandable to the uninitiated. I recommend this book only to those with a good supply of imagination. After all, Albert Einstein claimed that "imagination is more important than knowledge."

[Berr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorno'yu felsefi metinlerinden okuyabilmek için hazır olduğumu düşündüm ve onu okudum. Pişman değilim ancak şunu bir kez daha anladım diye düşünüyorum: her kez okunduğunda daha farklı bakış açısı kazandıran bir filozof yazar Adorno

[J.]

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[Jeremy Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deserves 4.5 stars.

[Ömer Şentürk]

atina ve auschwitz adlı bölüm bir 20. yüzyılın yazabileceği en özel paragraflardan birkaçını içermekte.