Adorno's "Against Epistemology"

[MSalter1@aol.com]

In a message dated 22/07/97 05:48:41 GMT, Paul writes:

<< Nitpicking pedantry: the actual German title is _Zur Metakritik der
 Erkenntnistheorie_. The English translation is a misleading
 overdetermination, as the book is no simple 'contra', but just what the
 title says: a 'metacritique'. Adorno does not just attack and expose
 bourgeois epistemology from the outside (as it were), but rather attempts
 to immerse himself in the theory so as to determine the theory's limits
 from within. And such a delimiting critique is not just an exposure of
 intrinsic falsity, but also a 'redemption' of the theory's (possible)
 truth-content. >>

Yes, surely this is a useful, rich if underdeveloped, summary of the
specifically dialectical  - originally Hegelian - strategy of immanent
criticism, a point A himself was conscious of practising in that and other
work, and which could form a good topic for further development, discussion,
illustration and application on this list. Indeed, some of the more incisive
contributions have represented immanent criticisms of claims made by other
contributorsl whereas other illustrate all too well the dogmatism merely
external criticism whose totalising critique of ideological dogmatism
carefully exempts that form which is nearest to home!

Michael Salter
law lecturer
Univ of Lancaster
UK