Habermas and Adorno on Dialectic of enlightenment.

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Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014
1-1-1991
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Alex, Pienknagura
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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1896 - February 2014. 2078.
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DATE DUE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS
AT
AMHERST
LD
323A
M267
1991
PA1 Qc;
HABERMAS AND ADORNO
ON DIALECTIC OF ENLIGHTENMENT
A Dissertation Presented
by
ALEX PIENKNAGURA
Submitted to the Graduate School of the
University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
May 1991
Department of Philosophy
Copyright by Alex Pienknagura 1991
All Rights Reserved
HABERMAS AND ADORNO ON DIALECTIC OF ENLIGHTENMENT
A Dissertation Presented
by
ALEX PIENKNAGURA
Approved as to style and content by:
Robert J. Ackermann, Chair
Ann Ferguson, Member
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
At the most delicate moment in my philosophical
journey, at its inception, Rodolfo Kaufler, Luis Campos
Martinez, and Paul Engel supported me in ray struggle to
begin to think autonomously.
At the end of my first year in graduate school. Bob
Wolff, Bob Ackermann, Ann Ferguson, and Bruce Aune
disregarded my ignorance and made it possible for me to
obtain my first assistantship. l can only hope that I have
done justice to their faith in my capacity to learn. Bob
Ackermann and Bob Wolff have been my teachers and friends.
Over the years, I have learned much from Bill Hills. I
relish our weekly discussions of Dialectic of En1 ightenment
and our conversations about politics, culture, society, and
the economy. At a very difficult time in my life. Bill
helped me to bear in mind the pleasure of thought, reading,
and unregimented dialogue. And of friendship.
My parents have always stood by me. should like to
I
think that they will accept this work as an expression of my
gratitude for what I learned at home.
IV
ABSTRACT
HABERMAS AND ADORNO
ON DIALECTIC OF ENLIGHTENMENT
MAY 1991
ALEX PIENKNAGURA, B.S., MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
B.A., MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS
Directed by: Professor Robert J. Ackermann
In my dissertation, I argue that Juergen Habermas
misinterprets Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno's Dialectic
q£ Enlightenment Habermas claims that Adorno and
.
Horkheimer universalize instrumental reason, and that they
hence undermine their own discursive-rational contribution.
He thinks critical social theory can only be reflexively
grounded if it recognizes as its pragmatic truth-condition a
counter factual ly conceived communicative procedure that
would be free of distortion. In my view, Habermas
dedifferentiates the dialectic of enlightenment. Adorno and
Horkheimer do not reduce thought to instrumental reason, and
they characterize enlightenment as a historically
differentiated process. They maintain that enlightenment
comprises both instrumental and critical thought, critical
thought being understood by them as determinate negation.
I interpret Dialectic of En1 ightenment as a theory of the
formation of the subject. Furthermore, I contend that
Adorno's Negative Dialectics and Aesthetic Theory eschew
Habermas's mistaken reading of Dialectic of Enl ightenment.
They develop the latter's dialectical account of
V
s
subject! V ization. Negative Dialectics and Aesthetic Theory
advance against the backdrop of Dialectic of Enl ightenment'
theory of the progressive instrumental ization of the self
the idea of an unregimented subjective knowledge and
experience of nature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
iv
ABSTRACT
v
INTRODUCTION
1
Chapter
1. ON HABERMAS'S DEDIFFERENTIATION OF
THE DIALECTIC OF ENLIGHTENMENT 10
2. HISTORICISM AND RATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION
IN HABERMAS'S CRITIQUE OF
DIALECTIC OF ENLIGHTENMENT 43
3. ADORNO'S ELABORATION OF DIALECTIC OF
ENLIGHTENMENT: TOWARD AN UNREGIMENTED
EXPERIENCE OF NATURE 77
4. HABERMAS AND ADORNO ON REFLEXIVE
GROUNDING AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF
CONSCIOUSNESS 126
BIBLIOGRAPHY 182