Bringing together writings on united Germany, this volume addresses the consequences of German history, the challenges and perils of the post-Wall era, and Germany's place in contemporary Europe. The author argues that 1945 - not 1989 - was the crucial turning point in German history.

This concluding chapter proposes an alternative interpretation of Theodor W. Adorno's unfinished Aesthetic Theory in which he reconsiders some of the philosopher's central aesthetic concepts, such as aesthetic autonomy, from the perspective of those moments when Adorno's writing appears to destabilize the work of art and, by extension, the philosophical claims that his theories generally are held to make on behalf of the aesthetic. Adorno's Aesthetic Theory, initially shunned or attacked when it was posthumously published in 1970, has become increasingly (...) his most widely and carefully read work. While the interpreters are still in disagreement about the appropriate reading of the text, there is largely consensus about its significance as the culmination of Adorno's œuvre and its importance for the contemporary debate on aesthetics. (shrink)

Throughout the book, Hohendahl argues that Adorno's work "ultimately resists the desire for systematic order, the search for a grand design that gives meaning to all the individual texts.".

Human freedom and the autonomy of art : Adorno as a reader of Kant -- The ephemeral and the absolute : provisional notes to Adorno's aesthetic theory -- Aesthetic violence : the concept of the ugly in Adorno's aesthetic theory -- Reality, realism, and representation -- A precarious balance : Adorno and German classicism.

The article explores Adorno's theoretical efforts to think through the relationship of art and society, treating it as a significant part of his aesthetic theory. The emphasis of the article is placed on those writings that explicitly theorize the link between art and society. The essay therefore traces Adorno's theoretical statements and arguments from his 1932 essay on the situation of modern music to his late Aesthetic Theory, focusing on his methodological and aesthetic concerns: methodologically his persistent critique of empiricism (...) and quantitative research, aesthetically his preoccupation with the concept of aesthetic autonomy as the precondition of modern art. As it turns out, with in terms of its basic concepts such as commodity and reification, even his late work ( Aesthetic Theory ) remains committed to the Marxist tradition that defined his early writings. (shrink)

Whatever the difference in the authors' positions, this collection gains its unity through their common interest in the significance and value of Critical ...

Offers a sustained critique of Carl Schmitt's late work, especially of his geopolitical theory.