Theodor Adorno was one of the giants of twentieth-century thought. This volume presents four of his key writings on the irrational in mass culture – from astrology to fascism, from anti-Semitism to ...the Occult. The superb essay ‘Stars Down to Earth’ – an innovative and startling analysis of the astrology column in a Los Angeles newspaper – is followed by three shorter pieces which explore the dark side of modern culture and lead to profoundly disturbing conclusions. The introduction grounds Adorno’s arguments firmly in the present, where extreme religious and political organizations are commonplace. Half a century ago Theodor Adorno not only recognised the dangers, but proclaimed them loudly. We did not listen then. Maybe it is not too late to listen now.
The following is the transcript of a lecture taken in shorthand by Hans-Georg Backhaus. The transcript was originally published as an appendix in Hans-Georg Backhaus, Dialektik der Wertform. ...Untersuchungen zur marxschen Ökonomiekritik (Freiburg: ça ira, 1997), a complete translation of which is forthcoming in the Historical Materialism book series.
The Stars Down to Earth shows us a stunningly prescient Adorno. Haunted by the ugly side of American culture industries he used the different angles provided by each of these three essays to showcase ...the dangers inherent in modern obsessions with consumption. He engages with some of his most enduring themes in this seminal collection, focussing on the irrational in mass culture - from astrology to new age cults, from anti-semitism to the power of neo-fascist propaganda. He points out that the modern state and market forces serve the interest of capital in its basic form. Stephan Crook's introduction grounds Adorno's arguments firmly in the present where extreme religious and political organizations are commonplace - so commonplace in fact that often we deem them unworthy of our attention. Half a century ago Theodore Adorno not only recognised the dangers, but proclaimed them loudly. We did not listen then. Maybe it is not too late to listen now.
Kierkegaard Once More Adorno, Theodor W
Telos (New York, N.Y.),
03/2016
174
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
According to the measure of his own authorship, Kierkegaard must not triumph. He denied to the deceased Bishop Mynster, whom he loved, the name of a truth-witness Wahrheitszeugen. On no account would ...he who repeats formulaically that he speaks without authority have laid claim to it himself. Unmistakably, however, his idea of the truth-witness arose from the construction of his own existence Existenz. Here, Adorno discusses Kierkegaard's late writings.
Subject & Object is a thematic collection of classic works by Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, and Herbert Marcuse, designed to foreground the authors' philosophical concerns, especially in the areas ...of epistemology, ontology, and method. The volume, which includes lucid introductions to all of the selections, illustrates Frankfurt School approaches to questions such as the nature of reason; the limits of empiricism, pragmatism and Kantian transcendental idealism; the case for materialism; the difficulty of thinking counterfactually; and the ideological character of mainstream social science. Many of the pieces in the volume are otherwise out of print. Subject & Object will be a resource for social, political, and cultural theorists who may be less familiar with the philosophical aspects of the Frankfurt School, for analytic philosophers who may not have had previous exposure to their work at all, and for anyone wanting access to these seminal texts.
Kultur and Culture Adorno, Theodor W
Social text,
2009, Volume:
27, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
This article discusses varying notions of culture between American & German populations. The concept of culture has a specific relationship to nature & the manner in which human interact & confront ...nature. Each society perceives, constructs, & manifests this relationship with nature in different ways & thus the concept of culture changes from society to society. In the United States, culture refers to how human's deal with nature & how we master it, "the domination of both the external nature that opposes us as well as the domination of the natural forces in the human being itself." On the other hand, in Germany culture is defined by society's desire to conserve nature for its own sake & the "idea that what humans beings acquire & subject to their own rule should not be radically broken or eradicated but rather simultaneously preserved in its own being." As outlined by the author it is distinct historical social, political, philosophical & the economic paths & processes of these two countries which cause these varying concepts of culture. Adapted from the source document.
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