On thinking the tragic with Adorno

Nivalainen, Markku ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8154-2834 2016. On thinking the tragic with Adorno. European Legacy 21 (7) , pp. 644-663. 10.1080/10848770.2016.1200276

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Abstract

This article seeks to provide a template for understanding the tragic dimension of Theodor W. Adorno’s philosophy through a reading of his early collaborative work with Max Horkheimer, the Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944). While Adorno’s view has often been considered to be tragic, little has been done to reconstruct the tragic dimension of his thought. I argue that the view of the human condition, presented in the Dialectic of Enlightenment, is founded on metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical convictions that have structural similarities with the positions held by theorists and philosophers of tragedy and the tragic. Since traces of these tragic elements can be found throughout Adorno’s mature philosophy, the approach presented in this article may serve as a model for a more detailed mapping and examination of the tragic dimension of his thought in future research.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Academic & Student Support Service
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN0441 Literary History
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
ISSN:	1084-8770
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	7 January 2020
Last Modified:	10 Nov 2023 11:29
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/126784

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