ADORNO, THEODOR
Publié le 22/02/2012
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ADORNO, THEODOR (1903–1969), social theorist and musicologist; a
key associate of Frankfurt's Institut fu¨r Sozialforschung. He was born in Frankfurt,
where his father was a Jewish wine merchant (born Wiesengrund, Theodor
adopted his mother's maiden name, Adorno, during World War I). Studies at
Frankfurt led to a doctorate in 1924 with a thesis on the philosophy of Edmund
Husserl.* During 1925–1928 he studied music with Alban Berg in Vienna and
wrote his Habilitation on Kant and Freud. The completed manuscript was never
examined; growing Marxist involvement and friendships with Walter Benjamin*
and Max Horkheimer* led him to withdraw the thesis from his examiners. Returning to Frankfurt in 1928, he submitted a book on Søren Kierkegaard as a
new Habilitation. He began teaching at Frankfurt in 1931, but he was not officially
part of the Frankfurt School* until 1938, after its relocation to New
York. During 1928–1930 he edited Musikbla¨tter des Anbruch, a Vienna-based
music journal. In September 1933 the NSDAP withdrew his right to teach.
Initially relocating to Berlin,* he left for London in the spring of 1934.
Most attempts to classify Adorno are inadequate. While he was influenced by
Marx, his work drew extensively on Hegel and was influenced by the pre-
Marxist thought of Georg Luka´cs* and Benjamin. Also, while sociology enriched
his thinking, during most of his life—from 1920 until his death in 1969—
he published regularly on music. He identified himself with Vienna's neue Musik
(especially the music of Berg and Arnold Schoenberg*), and his critique of
music was integral to his philosophy and sociology. In sum, whether he was
writing philosophy, psychology, or musicology, Adorno aimed to dissolve conceptual
distinctions resulting from some mistaken notion of ultimate ‘‘primacy.''
His best-known work, The Authoritarian Personality, appeared only in 1950;
inspired by his German experience, the book's thesis contends that authoritarianism
serves as the core around which certain personalities are forged.
Liens utiles
- THÉORIE ESTHÉTIQUE, Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno (résumé & analyse)
- PHILOSOPHIE DE LA NOUVELLE MUSIQUE de Theodor W. Adorno
- Theodor Adorno, Théorie esthétique (résumé et analyse)
- Adorno Theodor Wiesengrund
- Theodor Adorno - Philosophie.