[FRA:] Adorno & Heidegger (1)

[Ralph Dumain]

Adorno and Heidegger: Philosophical Questions. Iain Macdonald and 
Krzysztof Ziarek, Editors.
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2008.

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction (Iain Macdonald and Krzysztof Ziarek)
1. Ethics and Authenticity: Conscience and Non-Identity in Heidegger 
and Adorno, with a Glance at Hegel (Iain Macdonald)
2. Truth and Authentication: Heidegger and Adorno in Reverse (Lambert 
Zuidervaart)
3. Transcendental Realism and Post-Metaphysical Thinking (Matthew Grist)
4. Poietic Epistemology: Reading Husserl through Adorno and Heidegger 
(Joanna Hodge)
5. Adorno and Heidegger on the Question of Art: Countering Hegel? 
(Nicholas Walker)
6. Beyond Critique? Art and Power (Krzysztof Ziarek)
7. "Were speculation about the state of reconciliation permissible":
     Reflections on the Relation between Human Beings and Things in 
Adorno and Heidegger (Ute Guzzoni)
8. The Struggle of the Self Against Itself: Adorno and Heidegger on 
Modernity (Josef Fruchtl)
9. Adorno, Heidegger and the Problem of Remembrance (Mario Wenning)
10. Adorno and Heidegger on Modernity (Fred Dallmayr)
Notes
Bibliography
Contributors
Index

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Hot off the presses, and with a coupon, I couldn't resist.  But I 
wonder whether this was a wise expenditure.  Not surprisingly, a 
scholarly work such as this is bound to be incestuous: it would be 
pretty close to impossible to communicate with or find an audience 
not steeped in the traditions from which this volume emanates. Still, 
there's something about this I find difficult to accept.  The editors 
juxtapose these two antagonistic thinkers with the aim of delineating 
their similarities and differences--their common concerns and the 
bases on which they intrinsically clash, with the aim of doing as 
much justice to both as possible without smoothing over their 
differences or their weaknesses, especially Heidegger's.

But there's more than these two figures to contend with.  There's 
also Husserl, in chapter 4, which I'm reading now.

So what bothers me about this volume?  First, nobody has ever 
convinced me that Heidegger has anything to say that is worth all the 
bother of engaging him, and having to read even other people's 
renditions of his crap is excruciating torture that is difficult to 
endure.  Secondly, anyone not sympathetic or not socialized in German 
idealist philosophical traditions needs some extra explanation and 
translation of this stuff into a framework that will render 
evaluation of this material more meaningful.  That involves not only 
knowing the assumptions of people who work on the terrain of this 
material but how they are likely to differ from those coming from outside.

Just to give a key example: Adorno is supposed to be a materialist, 
but he's a materialist unlike any other that has come down the 
pike.  His materialism is not the affirmative materialism of other 
philosophies, which set up an ontology of the physical properties of 
the world and the other entities built on top of them, and an 
affirmative epistemology to match.  Rather, Adorno's materialism is 
negative, predicated on the non-identity of concept and object.  This 
is pretty weird for those of us who come from a whole different 
background.  Well, it is not the task or responsibility of this book 
to engage in fundamental popularization.  (Jarvis is the best I'm 
seeing so far.)  However, I feel there is something missing in all 
this, which I guess I'm going to have to supply myself.

But with all this in mind, the authors in this volume do make 
interesting assertions, which I will discuss forthwith.

TO BE CONTINUED