Hi folks:
The Resignation essay is a short one, I'd recommend it to everyone as it
is very thought-provoking. Adorno, like Marcuse and Habermas, and others
for that matter, all had to deal with folks who criticized them for being
ensconsced in theory and not "acting" when the going got tough. Marcuse
and Habermas both had criticized some of the actions in which students
engaged during revolts in Germany, etc. Adorno (and the Frankfurt School)
also got criticized for having "resigned" engaging only in "theory" and
not acting nor having a theory of action. Very disempowering for common
folks.
Adorno starts the essay nicely, the first three pages are chock-full of
the nice bits some of which you've already seen posted to the list. But it
gets progressively more and more difficult to ascertain what Adorno wants.
The first half of the essay rightly states that those who clamor for
"action" (praxis) only are reactionary and afraid of the consequences of
unfettered thought, thought not polluted nor compromised by being an
adjunct to, or a reduction to the goals of praxis. It is important to read
this essay with Adorno's work on Dialectic in mind. "Resignation" reads as
a very dialectic-driven piece, which gets Adorno into a set of binaries
concerning theory-praxis which I think are troublesome. For instance, how
much thinking is enough before one decides to act? The essay also seems
particularly disempowering for an individual as well as for one who joins
a collective. Where are the possibilities for action? for social change? I
know this is not an immanent critique, but it's been a while since I read
it. By this time Adorno appears truly depressed anyway, he thinks society
is an "administered society" from which we can hardly escape. I think
Routledge re-printed The Culture Industry in 1991, and "Resignation" is in
that book.
Sorry for this post being so haphazard, recently woke up and not in a
scholarly mode yet.
Regards,
N. Cordova
cordova@xxxxxxxxxxx
On Wed, 21 May 1997 Lithoi@xxxxxxx wrote:
> In a message dated 97-05-20 23:42:49 EDT, you write:
>
> << The leap into praxis will not cure thought from resignation as
> long as it is paid for with the secret knowledge that this
> course is simply not the right one. >>
>
> So, what's that supposed to mean? Really, explain this to an ordinary human
> being. ~~ Lithoi
>
The Resignation essay is a short one, I'd recommend it to everyone as it
is very thought-provoking. Adorno, like Marcuse and Habermas, and others
for that matter, all had to deal with folks who criticized them for being
ensconsced in theory and not "acting" when the going got tough. Marcuse
and Habermas both had criticized some of the actions in which students
engaged during revolts in Germany, etc. Adorno (and the Frankfurt School)
also got criticized for having "resigned" engaging only in "theory" and
not acting nor having a theory of action. Very disempowering for common
folks.
Adorno starts the essay nicely, the first three pages are chock-full of
the nice bits some of which you've already seen posted to the list. But it
gets progressively more and more difficult to ascertain what Adorno wants.
The first half of the essay rightly states that those who clamor for
"action" (praxis) only are reactionary and afraid of the consequences of
unfettered thought, thought not polluted nor compromised by being an
adjunct to, or a reduction to the goals of praxis. It is important to read
this essay with Adorno's work on Dialectic in mind. "Resignation" reads as
a very dialectic-driven piece, which gets Adorno into a set of binaries
concerning theory-praxis which I think are troublesome. For instance, how
much thinking is enough before one decides to act? The essay also seems
particularly disempowering for an individual as well as for one who joins
a collective. Where are the possibilities for action? for social change? I
know this is not an immanent critique, but it's been a while since I read
it. By this time Adorno appears truly depressed anyway, he thinks society
is an "administered society" from which we can hardly escape. I think
Routledge re-printed The Culture Industry in 1991, and "Resignation" is in
that book.
Sorry for this post being so haphazard, recently woke up and not in a
scholarly mode yet.
Regards,
N. Cordova
cordova@xxxxxxxxxxx
On Wed, 21 May 1997 Lithoi@xxxxxxx wrote:
> In a message dated 97-05-20 23:42:49 EDT, you write:
>
> << The leap into praxis will not cure thought from resignation as
> long as it is paid for with the secret knowledge that this
> course is simply not the right one. >>
>
> So, what's that supposed to mean? Really, explain this to an ordinary human
> being. ~~ Lithoi
>