"The Dead Speaking of Stones and Stars": Adorno's Aesthetic Theory

Abstract

Presents a detailed reconstruction of Theodor Adorno's aesthetic theory which, although still a work-in-progress at the time of his death in 1969, is the most decisive work of 20th-century philosophical aesthetics. A discussion of philosophical aesthetics as a theory of reason is followed by an examination of the insignificance of aesthetics for traditional Marxism; positive & negative aspects of the autonomy of art; & the nature of rationalized reason. Special attention is given to Adorno's attempt to demonstrate that the practices of modern art implicitly promote conceptions of knowing, reasoning, & acting that differ from rationalized versions of the same that have become hegemonic in the world beyond art. Adorno's claim that each authentic work of art contains a truth-content in relation to such things as nature, society, ideology, or philosophy is addressed. However, since artworks perform rather than elaborate, Adorno felt artworks require philosophical elaboration It is maintained that the relation between art & philosophy in Adorno's aesthetic can be seen as "analogous to the relation between concept & intuition in Kantian philosophy.". J. Lindroth