Autonomy After Auschwitz : Adorno, German Idealism, and Modernity / Martin Shuster.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shuster, Martin, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Adorno, Theodor W., 1903-1969.

Adorno, Theodor W.

Autonomy (Philosophy).

Philosophy, German.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (220 p.)

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, [2014]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Ever since Kant and Hegel, the notion of autonomy-the idea that we are beholden to no law except one we impose upon ourselves-has been considered the truest philosophical expression of human freedom. But could our commitment to autonomy, as Theodor Adorno asked, be related to the extreme evils that we have witnessed in modernity? In Autonomy after Auschwitz, Martin Shuster explores this difficult question with astonishing theoretical acumen, examining the precise ways autonomy can lead us down a path of evil and how it might be prevented from doing so. Shuster uncovers dangers in the notion of autonomy as it was originally conceived by Kant. Putting Adorno into dialogue with a range of European philosophers, notably Kant, Hegel, Horkheimer, and Habermas-as well as with a variety of contemporary Anglo-American thinkers such as Richard Rorty, Stanley Cavell, John McDowell, and Robert Pippin-he illuminates Adorno's important revisions to this fraught concept and how his different understanding of autonomous agency, fully articulated, might open up new and positive social and political possibilities. Altogether, Autonomy after Auschwitz is a meditation on modern evil and human agency, one that demonstrates the tremendous ethical stakes at the heart of philosophy.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

1. I Against I: Stressing the Dialectic in the Dialectic of Enlightenment

2. Beyond the Bounds of Sense: Kant and the Highest Good

3. Adorno's Negative Dialectic as a Form of Life: Expression, Suffering, and Freedom

4. Reflections on Universal Reason: Adorno, Hegel, and the Wounds of Spirit

Model: Conclusion

Works Cited

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780226155517

022615551X

OCLC:

887802539