A definitive contribution to scholarship on Adorno, bringing together the foremost experts in the field

As one of the leading continental philosophers of the last century, and one of the pioneering members of the Frankfurt School, Theodor W. Adorno is the author of numerous influentialand at times quite radicalworks on diverse topics in aesthetics, social theory, moral philosophy, and the history of modern philosophy, all of which concern the contradictions of modern society and its relation to human suffering and the human condition. Having authored substantial contributions to critical theory which contain 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.

The Blackwell Companion to Adorno is the largest collection of essays by Adorno specialists ever gathered in a single volume. Part of the acclaimed Blackwell Companions to Philosophy series, this important contribution to the field explores Adornos lasting impact on many sub-fields of philosophy. Seven sections, encompassing a diverse range of topics and perspectives, explore Adornos intellectual foundations, his critiques of culture, his views on ethics and politics, and his analyses of history and domination.

Provides new research and fresh perspectives on Adornos views and writingsOffers an authoritative, single-volume resource for Adorno scholarshipAddresses renewed interest in Adornos significance to contemporary questions in philosophyPresents over 40 essays written by international-recognized experts in the field

A singular advancement in Adorno scholarship, the Companion to Adornois an indispensable resource for Adorno specialists and anyone working in modern European philosophy, contemporary cultural criticism, social theory, German history, and aesthetics.

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.

Notes on Contributors ix

Editors Introduction xv

About the Editors xix

Part I Intellectual Foundations 1

1 Adorno: A Biographical Sketch 3Peter E. Gordon

2 Adornos Inaugural Lecture: The Actuality of Philosophy in the Age of Mass Production 21Roger Foster

3 Reading Kierkegaard 35Marcia Morgan

4 Guilt and Mourning: Adornos Debt to and Critique of Benjamin 51Alexander Stern

5 Adorno and the Second Viennese School 67Sherry D. Lee

Part II Cultural Analysis 85

6 The Culture Industry 87Fred Rush

7 Adorno and Horkheimer on Anti-Semitism 103Fabian Freyenhagen

8 Adorno and Jazz 123Andrew Bowie

9 Adornos Democratic Modernism in America: Leaders and Educators as Political Artists 139Shannon Mariotti

10 Inhuman Methods for an Inhumane World: Adornos Empirical Social Research, 19381950 153Charles Clavey

Part III History and Domination 173

11 Adorno and Blumenberg: Nonconceptuality and theBilderverbot175Martin Jay

12 Philosophy of History 193Iain Macdonald

13 The Anthropology inDialectic of Enlightenment207Pierre-François Noppen

14 Adornos Reception of Weber and Lukács 221Michael J. Thompson

15 Adornos Aesthetic Model of Social Critique 237Andrew Huddleston

16 The Critique of the Enlightenment 251Martin Shuster

Part IV Social Theory and Empirical Inquiry 271

17 Nothing is True Except the Exaggerations: The Legacy ofthe Authoritarian Personality273David Jenemann

18 Exposing Antagonisms: Adorno on the Possibilities of Sociology 287Matthias Benzer and Juljan Krause

19 Adorno and Marx 303Peter Osborne

20 Adornos Three Contributions to a Theory of Mass Psychology and Why They Matter 321Eli Zaretsky

21 Adorno and Postwar German Society 335Jakob Norberg

Part V Aesthetics 349

22 Aesthetic Autonomy 351Owen Hulatt

23 Adorno and Literary Criticism 365Henry W. Pickford

24 Adorno as a Modernist Writer 383Richard Eldridge

25 AdornosAesthetic Theory397Eva Geulen

26 Aesthetic Theory as Social Theory 413Peter Uwe Hohendahl

27 Adorno, Music, and the Ineffable 427Michael Gallope

28 Adorno and Opera 443Richard Leppert

Part VI Negative Dialectics 457

29 What is Negative Dialectics?: Adornos Reevaluation of Hegel 459Terry Pinkard

30 Adornos Critique of Heidegger 473Espen Hammer

31 Concept and Object: Adornos Critique of Kant 487J. M. Bernstein

32 Critique and Disappointment:Negative Dialecticsas Late Philosophy 503Max Pensky

33 Negative Dialectics and Philosophical Truth 519Brian OConnor

34 Adorno and Scholem: The Heretical Redemption of Metaphysics 531Asaf Angermann

35 Adornos Concept of Metaphysical Experience 549Peter E. Gordon

Part VII Ethics and Politics 565

36 After Auschwitz 567Christian Skirke

37 Forever Resistant? Adorno and Radical Transformation of Society 583Maeve Cooke

38 Adornos Materialist Ethic of Love 601Kathy J. Kiloh

39 Adornos Metaphysics of Moral Solidarity in the Moment of its Fall 615James Gordon Finlayson

Index 631