Adorno Theodor Wiesengrund (1903–69), German philosopher and aesthetic theorist, one of the main philosophers of the first generation of the Frankfurt School of critical theory. With Horkheimer, Adorno gave philosophical direction to the Frankfurt School and its research projects in its Institute for Social Research. An accomplished musician and composer, Adorno first focused on the theory of culture and art, working to develop a non-reductionist but materialist theory of art and music in many essays from the 1930s. Under the influence of Walter Benjamin, he turned toward developing a ‘micrological’ account of cultural artifacts, viewing them as ‘constellations’ of social and historical forces.
As his collaboration with Horkheimer increased, Adorno turned to the problem of a selfdefeating dialectic of modern reason and freedom. Under the influence of the seemingly imminent victory of the Nazis in Europe, this analysis focused on the ‘entwinement of myth and Enlightenment.’ The Dialectic of Enlightenment (1941) argues that instrumental reason promises the subject autonomy from the forces of nature only to enslave it again by its own repression of its impulses and inclinations. The only way around this self-domination is ‘non-identity thinking,’ found in the unifying tendencies of a non-repressive reason. This self-defeating dialectic is represented by the striking image of Ulysses tied to the mast to survive his encounter with the Sirens. Adorno initially hoped for a positive analysis of the Enlightenment to overcome this genealogy of modern reason, but it is never developed. Instead, he turned to an increasingly pessimistic analysis of the growing reification of modern life and of the possibility of a ‘totally administered society.’ Adorno held that ‘autonomous art’ can open up established reality and negate the experience of reification. Aesthetic Theory (1970) develops this idea of autonomous art in terms of aesthetic form, or the capacity of the internal organization of art to restructure existing patterns of meaning. Authentic works of art have a ‘truth-value’ in their capacity to bring to awareness social contradictions and antinomies. In Negative Dialectics (1966) Adorno provides a more general account of social criticism under the ‘fragmenting’ conditions of modern rationalization and domination. These and other writings have had a large impact on cultural criticism, particularly through Adorno’s analysis of popular culture and the ‘culture industry.’ See also CRITICAL THEORY, FRANKFURT SCHOO. J.Bo.