Désir autoritaire

by Theodor W. Adorno, Marie-Andree Ricard

Dans la dernière décennie de sa vie, Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) revient de manière incisive sur le thème de la personnalité autoritaire développé dès les années 1940 à propos du potentiel fasciste ou, autrement dit, antidémocratique présent dans la société nord-américaine. Ici, en écho à la vague d’actes antisémites perpétrés par de jeunes partisans de l’extrême droite allemande à l’hiver 1959-1960, il essaie de rendre compte de la persistance, en Allemagne, de préjugés «pathiques» à l’endroit d’autres groupes et de la tendance nationaliste agressive qui va de pair. Pour ce faire, il interroge la «psychologie» des personnalités attachées à l’autorité, comme il préfère désormais les appeler. Si la réflexion d’Adorno sur ces problèmes suscite de nouveau notre attention, c’est évidemment en raison de leur regain d’actualité et du besoin de contrer la menace grandissante qu’ils recèlent pour toute l’humanité.

79 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 17, 2025

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.