Reviews for Adorno's Negative Dialectic: Philosophy and the Possibility of Critical Rationality

The average rating for Adorno's Negative Dialectic: Philosophy and the Possibility of Critical Rationality based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-09-17 00:00:00 Steve Jorgensen In this brilliant book Brian O'Connor provides a reading of Adorno as a transcendental philosopher who is concerned with the necessary structures and conditions of our experience. Negative Dialectics, in O'Connor's view, is attempting nothing less than to "give philosophical foundation to the very practice of critical theory, to the very possibility of a rationality that lies latent'although not always recognized'within experience itself" (p.173). In the course of the exposition we learn about Adorno's complicated relationship to German Idealism, the priority of the object, the role of the subject and what identitity thinking has to do with the subject-object relationship. Moreover, Adorno's critique of various philosophers (e.g. Heidegger, Husserl, Hegel and Kant) is given sufficient attention. In doing so, O'Connor highlights both the strenghts of Adorno's reading of these figures as well as the limits of Adorno's ability to represent the positions and arguments of those with whom he engages correctly. The contemporary relevance of Adorno's thought is further clarified by relating his ideas to the thought of John Searle and Thomas Nagel. Furthermore, O'Connor's book is valuable insofar as it defends Adorno against accusations of the incoherence of his thought. Objections by Habermas and Michael Rosen are considered and discussed in some detail. At this point the reader will have learned how Adorno's commitment to a subjectivity that plays a role in the shaping experience can be reconciled with his commitment to materialism. All in all it can be said that O'Connor succeeded in writing a marvellous book about Adorno's complicated and often seemingly incoherent thought that might serve as a key to break at least some of the seals that have kept the insights contained in Negative Dialektik from being appreciated by a larger audience.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-02-04 00:00:00 Juliana L Destree Since there's still no acceptable translation of Adorno's Negative Dialectics, I went ahead with this one. It's heavy going, but really fun. I've always been more drawn to Adorno's pessimism and negativity anyway, but this book nicely argues that he did indeed have a complex, nuanced, and worthwhile general philosophical project as well that undergirded and supported his relentless critique of World. I'm looking forward to getting back to Adorno himself, and his difficult, difficult prose which I love, with this overarching sketch of that philosophical project in mind. It should enrich that engagement.