Abstract

CRITIQUE AND UTOPIA. THE MESSIANIC DIMENSION OF DIALECTICS IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF T. W. ADORNO Dialectics is for Adorno both a blessing and a curse: it is a tool of redemption and at the same time demands of the philosopher uncompromising honesty which dismisses any dreams of utopia. Honesty is one of philosophy’s cardinal virtues as it prevents it from slipping into ideology. Excess of honesty, however, can be damaging as it makes it impossible for imperfect humanity not only to gain paradise but even to hope for a purgatory. Marta Olesik shows how Adorno appropriates the Hegelian method and modifies it by transforming determinate negation into an absolute one – the absolute gainsaying of everything that dares to exists in a “damaged” world.