"Ratio" in Adorno -Reply

[WARREN GOLDSTEIN]

Dear Jeffrey Broesche,

Thank you for waking us up.

Although I have not read Adorno's Aesthetic Theory, the passage you
provided seems to draw off Benjamin's "On the Mimetic Faculty."  In it,
Benjamin argues that language (and art) has its origins in mimesis; it is
based on imitation (onomatopoeia).  Art for Benjamin has its origins in 
ritual (see also essay on Mechanical Reproduction).  Based on Benjamin,
I would argue that mimesis represents an opposite tendency to any
process of rationalization.  It is tied to a cultic authority while
rationalization is part of a process of secularization.  

I hope this helps you further along in your attempt to decipher the
passage.

Warren Goldstein
New School for Social Research