Lectures on Negative Dialectics: Fragments of a Lecture Course 1965/1966

by Theodor W. Adorno

This volume comprises one of the key lecture courses leading up to the publication in 1966 of Adorno's major work, Negative Dialectics. These lectures focus on developing the concepts critical to the introductory section of that book. They show Adorno as an embattled philosopher defining his own methodology among the prevailing trends of the time. As a critical theorist, he repudiated the worn-out Marxist stereotypes still dominant in the Soviet bloc – he specifically addresses his remarks to students who had escaped from the East in the period leading up to the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961. Influenced as he was by the empirical schools of thought he had encountered in the United States, he nevertheless continued to resist what he saw as their surrender to scientific and mathematical abstraction. However, their influence was potent enough to prevent him from reverting to the traditional idealisms still prevalent in Germany, or to their latest manifestations in the shape of the new ontology of Heidegger and his disciples. Instead, he attempts to define, perhaps more simply and fully than in the final published version, a ‘negative', i.e. critical, approach to philosophy. Permeating the whole book is Adorno’s sense of the overwhelming power of totalizing, dominating systems in the post-Auschwitz world. Intellectual negativity, therefore, commits him to the stubborn defence of individuals – both facts and people – who stubbornly refuse to become integrated into ‘the administered world’. These lectures reveal Adorno to be a lively and engaging lecturer. He makes serious demands on his listeners but always manages to enliven his arguments with observations on philosophers and writers such as Proust and Brecht and comments on current events. Heavy intellectual artillery is combined with a concern for his students’ progress.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, Theory, Nonfiction

352 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 5, 2014

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

[Edward O'Neill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adorno gave lectures while writing the "Introduction" to "Negative Dialectics."

Those who know Hegel's "Phenomenology" know how thorny the issue of introductions is for those in the critical-phenomenological tradition. Adorno assumes the full complexity of the task, and renders the very process of engaging with that complexity.

What's bound in this volume is a bit odd.

Adorno lectured on his forthcoming book, and he left behind lecture notes, some transcribed recordings, and the final "Introduction" itself. But these don't all line up.

So in some cases, we have transcriptions of Adorno's lectures. But where the tape failed or the tapes were lost, we get his notes. Indeed, the editor gives us the notes, even when we have the lectures. And where there's only notes, we also get some of Adorno's "Introduction."

So it's a bit messy. But it's worth it to read Adorno's lectures on his book.

Basically, Adorno (like Heidegger and Lacan and Hegel) gave terrific lectures, but the published prose is, um, labored, to say the least.

So it's a delight to read Adorno and not to experience the same bafflement readers of his prose habitually face.

I'm a fan. But non-fans can get something out of this one, too.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is actually a very good book about philosophy. I do not think it is a terribly good book on negative dialectics, because most of the available 10 lectures talks mostly about the 'proper' function of philosophy, and only bits of the first few talk about negative dialectics. Still, Adorno is capable of saying extremely interesting things, and often in a way that is far superior/accessible than his writing.

[Jack]

Great lectures. We get 10 lecture recordings and then left to lecture notes. Not the place to get in depth preparation for the negative dialectics, but still a good introduction.

[Chen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Adorno en sus clases habla genial, pero tampoco es que diga muchas cosas.

[raphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorno’s philosophy, I find, is never straightforward. The style itself oscillates from aphoristic to rigorous in the span of several paragraphs. This lecture series was the first one I’ve finished cover to cover, and I find that even his lectures reflect this overall style. In terms of content, I find this very satisfactory in so far as it maps out his intentions for a modified philosophy in the form of the Negative Dialectics. The ambiguities and references to philosophical history are distinctly Adorno, and hence, cannot be simply accused as convolutions of otherwise easily simplified ideas. Despite being such a pain to read when you’re unfamiliar to the references, the lectures provided a way of easing into the Negative Dialectics.

[graceofgod · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first few lectures are, in my opinion, absolutely brilliant. But in all honesty, it was very hard to follow his flow in the later lectures. Nonetheless, check this out.

[Slava Skobeloff · Rating 5 out of 5]

spec.realism/deleuze