CLS4090

Adorno: philosophy in a no-man's-land

Proposed to be offered next in 1999

Alexander Garc'a Düttmann

12 points
* 2 hours per week
* Clayton
* Prohibitions: CRT4090, PHL4040

Objectives On the successful completion of the subject students should have gained a close awareness of Adorno's thought and the responses of his main interpreters. They should have developed a critical ability to analyse Adorno's arguments and those of his main critics. Finally, they should be able to write lucidly, intelligently and persuasively in response to specific topics set for discussion.

Synopsis The aim of this seminar is to introduce students to critical theory and particularly to Adorno's thought. In the beginning we will read selected aphorisms from Minima moralia, as well as the famous text on the `Essay as form' (in Notes on literature). We will then move to the introduction Adorno wrote for his first major philosophical work, Against epistemology. Finally, we will turn to Negative dialectics (introduction, `Concepts and categories', `Meditations on metaphysics'). The discussion will focus on the relationship between language and philosophy that can be discerned and that is thematised in these texts.

Assessment Seminar paper (3000 words): 30%
* Essay (6000 words): 70%

Prescribed texts

Adorno T W Minima moralia
Adorno T W Notes on literature vol.1, Columbia U P
Adorno T W Against epistemology MIT Press
Adorno T W Negative dialectics Routledge

Recommended reading

Menke C Die Souveraenitaet der Kunst Suhrkamp
Roberts D Arts and Enlightenment Nebraska
Wiggershaus R The Frankfurt School