Adorno and the myth of subjectivity

Abstract

modern subject is in a state of crisis. Attacks from various sides have finally weakened its domination in modern philosophy. On the one hand French post-structuralists and post-modernists have attacked the notion of the subject and advanced a theory of decentered subjectivity or abandoned the idea altogether. On the other hand the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas has argued against traditional notions of the subject and in his book The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity strongly attacked the French alternative. Some have argued that Habermas’s account of the discourse of modernity has been inaccurate in regard to his treatment of the French tradition.1 One would still hope that Habermas’s treatment of his own tradition of critical theory is more accurate. Yet I will show that Habermas’s treatment of the philosophy of Theodor W. Adorno, Habermas’s former teacher, is also somewhat inaccurate. For Adorno the subject had become the late form of myth,2 although his actual attitude to the subject is more complex. In this paper I will explicate Adorno’s attitude towards subjectivity while defending him against Habermas. This paper is divided into four main sections. These consist of Habermas’s two criticisms of Adorno, and each of these criticisms is followed by a response on Adorno’s behalf, questioning Habermas’s criticisms. The remainder of this Introduction will be used to reach a preliminary concept of subjectivity.