Philosophy and Sociology: 1960

by Theodor W. Adorno, Nicholas Walker (Translation), Dirk Braunstein (Editor)

In summer 1960, Adorno gave the first of a series of lectures devoted to the relation between sociology and philosophy. One of his central concerns was to dispel the notion, erroneous in his view, that these were two incompatible disciplines, radically opposed in their methods and aims, a notion that was shared by many. While some sociologists were inclined to dismiss philosophy as obsolete and incapable of dealing with the pressing social problems of our time, many philosophers, influenced by Kant, believed that philosophical reflection must remain 'pure', investigating the constitution of knowledge and experience without reference to any real or material factors. By focusing on the problem of truth, Adorno seeks to show that philosophy and sociology share much more in common than many of their practitioners are inclined to assume. Drawing on intellectual history, Adorno demonstrates the connection between truth and social context, arguing that there is no truth that cannot be manipulated by ideology and no theorem that can be wholly detached from social and historical considerations.

This systematic account on the interconnectedness of philosophy and sociology makes these lectures a timeless reflection on the nature of these disciplines and an excellent introduction to critical theory, the sociological content of which is here outlined in detail by Adorno for the first time.

Genres: Philosophy

320 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2015

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

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorno offers 18 lectures dedicated to the topic of Philosophy and Sociology, in which he runs through the history of sociology as a science, its role as a revolutionary science of the emerging bourgeois class, and its dialectical becoming the ideological defender of an oppressive system through the embrace of nominalism. Adorno counterposes this history to that of philosophy and its dedication to the concept, its production and its truth value, arguing that though the two sciences stand in opposition to one another, each presupposes the other in and through mediation, a process of dialectic thinking which is anything but the reduction of the opposition to a third. Adorno's lectures veer into an extended meditation on ideology, generation and validity only to return to the principle thesis that truth and history, however they are framed, yield a dialectical mediation in which their opposition is intertwined.

[Angel 一匹狼 · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Philosophie und Soziologie" are a series of lectures by philosopher, sociologist and seems so much more in its wikipedia entry, Theodor W. Adorno, a person that will surely pop up in your reading material if you do any kind of research in sociological stuff (raising my hand). And what can be said about these transcribed lectures were he analyzes the relationship (or head-on fight) between philosophy and sociology?

Well, it is an interesting book, with some eye-opening passages, and some good analysis. However, it is, at the same time, a transcription of some lectures, with the difficulties this brings to the reader when this book falls on their hands: too long paragraphs, things that may be easier to understand in the lecture's context but that are hard to on the white pages; some repetition; lack of knowledge of some of the topics/people that keep popping up but that the students of Adorno's class surely knew of...

That does not mean that the book is worthless, but that it is more of a curio and an 'extra' for people who already know of the matter at hand and just want to get some extra information on the topic or on Adorno's views on it.

The best: a look on Adorno's mind and his lectures; some passages, particularly in the latter lectures, are really interesting

The worst: to be on those lectures transcribed here would have been better, for sure; some of the chapters are difficult to understand in the vacuum of this book; I may be pedantic, by I kind of hate the use of the word 'chance' in Spanish (so much of a Spanglish word and I feel so out of place here in this translation...)

Further Reading: take a look on how the brain works ("The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" by Oliver Sacks); check the dystopian novel Adorno talks about in his lectures ("Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley); think about language and its role ("Language, Bananas & Bonobos", Neil Smith) or take a look on what is reality ("Über Gewißheit" by Ludwig Wittgenstein)... The list could be endless, the desire for knowledge, boundless.

6.5/10

(Spanish Translation by Mariana Dimópulos)