Overview

“This outstanding Companion proves the usual assumption wrong that there is no possibility today to contribute something new and original to the work of Theodor W. Adorno. The three editors, all equally superb experts of his philosophy, have managed with circumspection and discretion to collect thoroughly stimulating articles that together open up a novel and fresh perspective on this central figure of critical theory. Everyone who’s keeping up with what’s going on in this tradition has to read this Companion.” Axel Honneth, Jack C. Weinstein Professor of the Humanities, Columbia University “An exemplary Companion of extremely well-formed essays together covering the extraordinary range of Adorno’s philosophical, social, and aesthetic thought. Highly recommended for anyone working through the issues and relevance of critical theory today.” Lydia Goehr, Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University As one of the leading continental philosophers of the last century, and a pioneering member of the Frankfurt School, Theodor W. Adorno was the author of seminal—and at times quite radical—scholarship in aesthetics, social theory, moral philosophy, and the history of modern philosophy which concerns the contradictions of modern society in relation to human suffering and the human condition. Having made substantial contributions to critical theory which levy searching critiques of the ‘culture industry’ and the ‘identity thinking’ of modern Western society, Adorno helped establish an interdisciplinary but philosophically rigorous study of culture, and provided some of the most startling and revolutionary critiques of Western society to date. A Companion to Adorno is the largest collection of newly commissioned essays by a distinguished array of Adorno scholars, specialists, and leading interpreters ever gathered in a single volume. Part of the distinguished Blackwell Companions to Philosophy series, this important contribution to the field explores Adorno’s lasting impact on many sub-fields of philosophy from a rich variety of perspectives. Chapters in each of seven sections explore Adorno’s intellectual foundations, his critiques of culture, his views on ethics and politics, and his analyses of history and domination, and collectively asserting the contemporary importance of his social thought and broader intellectual legacy. A singular advancement in Adorno scholarship, A Companion to Adorno is an indispensable resource for Adorno specialists and researchers working in modern European philosophy, contemporary cultural criticism, social theory, German history, and aesthetics.

Full Product Details

Author:   Peter E. Gordon ,  Espen Hammer ,  Max Pensky
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Imprint:   Wiley-Blackwell
Dimensions:   Width: 17.80cm , Height: 3.60cm , Length: 25.20cm
Weight:   1.157kg
ISBN:  

9781119147015

ISBN 10:   1119147018
Pages:   688
Publication Date:   01 September 2025
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors ix Editors’ Introduction xv About the Editors xix Part I Intellectual Foundations 1 1 Adorno: A Biographical Sketch 3 Peter E. Gordon 2 Adorno’s Inaugural Lecture: The Actuality of Philosophy in the Age of Mass Production 21 Roger Foster 3 Reading Kierkegaard 35 Marcia Morgan 4 Guilt and Mourning: Adorno’s Debt to and Critique of Benjamin 51 Alexander Stern 5 Adorno and the Second Viennese School 67 Sherry D. Lee Part II Cultural Analysis 85 6 The Culture Industry 87 Fred Rush 7 Adorno and Horkheimer on Anti-Semitism 103 Fabian Freyenhagen Copyrighted Material 8 Adorno and Jazz 123 Andrew Bowie 9 Adorno’s Democratic Modernism in America: Leaders and Educators as Political Artists 139 Shannon Mariotti 10 Inhuman Methods for an Inhumane World: Adorno’s Empirical Social Research, 1938–1950 153 Charles Clavey Part III History and Domination 173 11 Adorno and Blumenberg: Nonconceptuality and the Bilderverbot 175 Martin Jay 12 Philosophy of History 193 Iain Macdonald 13 The Anthropology in Dialectic of Enlightenment 207 Pierre-François Noppen 14 Adorno’s Reception of Weber and Lukács 221 Michael J. Thompson 15 Adorno’s Aesthetic Model of Social Critique 237 Andrew Huddleston 16 The Critique of the Enlightenment 251 Martin Shuster Part IV Social Theory and Empirical Inquiry 271 17 “Nothing is True Except the Exaggerations:” The Legacy of The Authoritarian Personality 273 David Jenemann 18 Exposing Antagonisms: Adorno on the Possibilities of Sociology 287 Matthias Benzer and Juljan Krause 19 Adorno and Marx 303 Peter Osborne 20 Adorno’s Three Contributions to a Theory of Mass Psychology and Why They Matter 321 Eli Zaretsky 21 Adorno and Postwar German Society 335 Jakob Norberg Part V Aesthetics 349 22 Aesthetic Autonomy 351 Owen Hulatt 23 Adorno and Literary Criticism 365 Henry W. Pickford 24 Adorno as a Modernist Writer 383 Richard Eldridge 25 Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory 397 Eva Geulen 26 Aesthetic Theory as Social Theory 413 Peter Uwe Hohendahl 27 Adorno, Music, and the Ineffable 427 Michael Gallope 28 Adorno and Opera 443 Richard Leppert Part VI Negative Dialectics 457 29 What Is Negative Dialectics?: Adorno’s Reevaluation of Hegel 459 Terry Pinkard 30 Adorno’s Critique of Heidegger 473 Espen Hammer 31 Concept and Object: Adorno’s Critique of Kant 487 J. M. Bernstein 32 Critique and Disappointment: Negative Dialectics as Late Philosophy 503 Max Pensky 33 Negative Dialectics and Philosophical Truth 519 Brian O’Connor 34 Adorno and Scholem: The Heretical Redemption of Metaphysics 531 Asaf Angermann 35 Adorno’s Concept of Metaphysical Experience 549 Peter E. Gordon Part VII Ethics and Politics 565 36 After Auschwitz 567 Christian Skirke 37 Forever Resistant? Adorno and Radical Transformation of Society 583 Maeve Cooke 38 Adorno’s Materialist Ethic of Love 601 Kathy J. Kiloh 39 Adorno’s Metaphysics of Moral Solidarity in the Moment of its Fall 615 James Gordon Finlayson Index 631

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Author Information

Peter E. Gordon is the Amabel B. James Professor of History, Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, and Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Philosophy at Harvard University. Espen Hammer is Professor of Philosophy at the College of Liberal Arts of Temple University. He has held professorships at the University of Oslo and the University of Essex. Max Pensky is Professor of Philosophy and co-Director of the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

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