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Durham E-Theses Durham E-Theses Adorno's Critique of Judgement: the recovery of negativity from the philosophies of Kant and Hegel STOPFORD, RICHARD,JOHN How to cite: STOPFORD, RICHARD,JOHN (2012) Adorno's Critique of Judgement: the recovery of negativity from the philosophies of Kant and Hegel, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3650/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Adorno's Critique of Judgment: the recovery of negativity from the philosophies of Kant and Hegel Richard John Stopford Ph.D. Thesis Department of Philosophy Durham University 2012 1 Adorno's Critique of Judgment: the recovery of negativity from the philosophies of Kant and Hegel - Richard John Stopford Abstract This thesis has four primary aims. Firstly, I develop an account of Adorno’s critique of Kant and Hegel’s philosophy. I argue that the role and structure of judgement is key to his critical analysis. Adorno's discussion of their metaphysics, epistemology revolves around an immanent critique of judgement. This critique reveals, in the dialectical sense, the irreducibility of the 'negative moment' within judgement. This critical exposition grounds the second aim of the thesis. Analysis of Kant and Hegel's philosophies enables us to discern a number of key concepts in Adorno's own thought, concepts which will help us to understand his notion of negativity. In particular, his dialectical critique produces a constellation of critical - or negative - dialectical concepts: conceptless [begriffslose], non- identity [Nichtidentität], mediation [Vermittlung]. The generation of these concepts and their elucidation provides the basis for the third aim: to give a textually viable and philosophically fruitful explanation of key commitments in Adorno’s negative dialectics. I argue that negative dialectics does not amount to a system, a standpoint, or even a set of principles. Rather, it is a critical activity. The commitments, which revolve around the constellation of concepts outlined above, indicate a critical sensitivity to the limits of epistemology and metaphysics and the problem that these limits pose for judgement. Finally, I develop the resources to answer Michael Rosen’s claim that Adorno’s rejection of Hegelian determinate negation leaves his dialectics without any dynamic force. Drawing upon aesthetics, we can better understand the dynamics of negative dialectics. Aesthetic engagement with artworks not only demonstrates an appropriate orientation of philosophy to material, it is also an appropriate medium through which we can gain a clearer understanding of the philosophical commitments elucidated above. 2 Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………................................11 Section One……………………………………………………………………………………….……..…23 Adorno's Immanent Critique of Kant's Philosophy 1. 'Constituens' and 'Constitutum'………………………………………………………….…….26 1.1 Elucidation of Terms 1.2 Traversing the Bounds of Sense: The Transcendental Subject and Pure Apperception 1.2.i The Reification of the Subject 1.2.ii The Intelligibility of Kantian Subjectivity 1.2.iii Transcendental and Empirical Subjectivity: Regulation and Repression 1.3 Conclusion 2. Kantian Judgements, Representations and Identity-Thinking……………..60 2.1 Adorno on Identity-Thinking 2.1.i The Qualitative Interpretation 2.1.ii The Quantitative Interpretation 2.2 Textual Evidence 3. Kant, Determinative Judgements and Semantics……………………………….…74 3.1 Psychologism or Semantics? 3.2 Determinative Judgements and Propositions 3.3 Kant, Objects and the Recurrence of Identity-Thinking 3.4 Conclusion 3 Section Two………………………………………………………………………………………………..95 Adorno's Immanent Critique of Hegel's Philosophy 4. Hegelian Dialectics, Judgements and Truth…………………….……...100 4.1 Determinative Judgements and Modality 4.2 Valid Judgements and Essences 4.3 The Propositional Model of Judgement 4.4 Transition to a Dialectical Model of Judgement 4.5 Determinate Negation, Positivity and the Dialectics of Being 4.5.i Negation and Being 4.5.ii Determinate Negation, Process and History 4.6 The Dialectical Logic of Judgement 4.7 Material, Correspondence and Coherence Theories of Truth in Hegel's Philosophy 5. Adorno as an Hegelian Thinker…………………………………………………….133 5.1 The Influence of Hegel's Criticism of Kant on Adorno 5.2 The Separation of Form and Content 5.3 Dialectical As Opposed to Transcendental Modality 5.4 Dialectics and the Dynamism of Judgement 5.5 Dialectics Against Dogmatism 5.6 Conclusion 6. Adorno's Immanent Critique of Hegelian Dialectics……………..145 6.1 Hegel's Dialectics, A Priorism and Rationalism 6.2 The Transition to Negativity 6.3 Constituens and Constitutum Revisited 6.4 Negativity in Dialectical Judgements 6.4i Negativity, Judgements and Metaphysics 6.4.ii Immanent Critique of Judgement 6.5 Conclusion 4 7. Negative Dialectics and Concepts……………………………………………….173 7.1 The Conceptless 7.2 Nonidentity 7.3 Mediation 7.4 Negative Dialectics Section Three……………………………………………………………………………………..…181 The Recovery of Negativity 8. Conceptlessness and Nonconceptual……………………………………..….185 8.1 Conceptlessness and its problems 8.2 Conceptlessness, Unsayability and Identity 9. Non-Identity, Mediation and Dialectical Aesthetics………………195 9.1 Identity, Nonidentity and Artworks 9.2 Artworks, Nonidentity and Enigma 9.3 Material Constitution 9.4 Nonidentity and Conceptlessness A Dialectical Analysis of Fountain………………………………………………………213 9.5.i A Constellation of Concepts: conceptlessness, nonidentity and mediation 9.5.ii Aesthetics and Negative Dialectics 9.6 Lumps of Porcelain and Urinals 9.7 Fountain 9.7.i Competing Explanations of the Ontology of Fountain 9.8 Material Constitution Revisited 9.9 Adorno's Dialectical Aesthetics 9.9.i History, Judgements and Dialectics 9.10 Nonidentity, History and Truth Content 9.10.i The Socio-Historical Dimension 9.10.ii History and Truth Content 9.11 Conclusion 5 10. Negative Dialectics: Adorno's Immanent Critiques of Kant and Hegel Reconsidered……………………………………248 10.1 Negative Dialectics: Commitments 10.2 Critique of Kant Revisited 10.3 Critique of Hegel Revisited: developing dialectics through the mutual critique of Kant and Hegel 10.3i Key Hegelian Criticisms of Kant 10.3ii Critical Mediations 10.4 Conclusion Conclusions………………………………………………………………………………………….…276 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………….……….281 6 List of Abbreviations Works By Adorno AT (1997) Aesthetic Theory. Trans. R, Hullot-Kentor. Ed. G, Adorno and R. Tiedemann. Continuum: London. AE (1985) Against Epistemology: A Metacritique - Studies in Husserl and the Phenomenological Antinomies. Trans. W. Domingo. MIT: Cambridge. ATb (1970) Ästhetische Theorie. Suhrkamp Verlag: Frankfurt. HTT (1993) Hegel: Three Studies. Trans. S.W. Nicholson. Intro. S.W. Nicholson and J.J. Shapiro. MIT Press: Mass. HaF (2006) History and Freedom. Trans. R Livingstone. Ed. R. Tiedemann. Polity Press: Cambridge. KCPR (2001) Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Trans. R. Livingstone. Ed. R. Tiedemann. Polity Press: Cambridge. LoND (2008) Lectures on Negative Dialectics. Trans. R. Livingstone. Ed. R. Tiedemann. Polity Press: Cambridge. MCP (2001) Metaphysics: Concepts and Problems. Stanford University Press: Stanford. MM (2005) Minima Moralia. Verso: London. ND (2004) Negative Dialectics. Trans. E.B. Ashton. Routledge: London. NDb (1966) Negative Dialektik. Suhrkamp Verlag: Frankfurt. PoMM (2003) Philosophy of Modern Music. Trans. A.G. Mitchell & W.V. Blomster. Continuum: London. CM (1998) 'Subject and Object'. In Critical Models: Interventions and Catchwords. Trans. H. Pickford. Columbia University Press: New York. CI (1991) The Culture Industry. Routledge: London. INH (1984) The Idea of Natural History. Trans. B.Hullot-Kentor. In Telos, No. 60 Summer. JoA (2007) The Jargon of Authenticity. Trans. K. Tarnowski and F. Will. Routledge Classics: London. 7 Works by Hegel EL (1991) The Encylopaedia Logic. Trans. T.F. Geraets, W.A. Suchting and H.S. Harris. Hackett Publishing Company: Cambridge. LoHP (1990) Lectures on the History of Philosophy: The Lectures of 1825-1826. Trans. R.F. Brown and J.M Stewart. Ed. R.F. Brown. University of California Press: Oxford. PoS (1977) Phenomenology of Spirit. Trans. A.V. Miller. Oxford University Press: Oxford. PoH (1956) The Philosophy of History. Trans. J. Sibree. Dover Publications: New York. PoM (1971) Philosophy of Mind. Trans. A.V. Miller. Oxford University Press: Oxford. SoL (2002) Science of Logic. Trans. A.V. Miller. Routledge: Oxon. PoR (2005) The Philosophy of Right. Trans. S.W. Dyde. Dover Publications, Inc: New York. Works by Kant CPR (1996) Critique of Pure Reason. Trans. W.S. Pluhar. Hackett: Cambridge. CoJ Critique of Judgement. Trans. W.S. Pluhar, Hackett: Cambridge. 8 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the prior written
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