Reconciliation with Nature: Adorno on Reason, Nature, and Critique

Adorno Studies 3 (1):20-32 (2019)
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Abstract

In this paper I interrogate the actuality of Adorno’s concept of nature in the light of the contemporary environmental crisis. In particular, I try to understand what happens to the critical force of Adorno’s concept of nature if we accept that a decisive turn has been taken in the domination of nature. I articulate two key aspects of Adorno’s critical theory that I think are important resources for thinking in a time of potential environmental catastrophe, which are the themes of a dialectical understanding of reason and nature and the theme of “lifeless life.” I then question whether two key mediating concepts in Adorno’s dialectic, namely the concepts of self- reflection and self-preservation, need to be rethought. Finally, I consider how the concept of a reconciliation with nature, a concept central to the first generation of the Frankfurt school, can be thought anew in an era marked by ever increasing human domination of nature.

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References found in this work

The climate of history: four theses.Dipesh Chakrabarty - 2009 - Critical Inquiry 35 (2):197-222.
The idea of natural history.Theodor W. Adorno - 1984 - Telos: Critical Theory of the Contemporary 1984 (60):111-24.
The Idea of Natural History.T. W. Adorno - 1984 - Telos: Critical Theory of the Contemporary 1984 (60):111-124.

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