Erkenntnistheorie

by Theodor W. Adorno

Nachgelassene Schriften. Abteilung IV: Vorlesungen

»Ich habe zunächst über den Begriff der Wissenschaft und das Verhältnis von Wissenschaft und Erkenntnis gesprochen, und werde dann Kritik der reinen Vernunft machen.« So Theodor W. Adornos prägnante, in einem Brief an Max Horkheimer formulierte Zusammenfassung seiner im Wintersemester 1957/58 gehaltenen Vorlesung über Erkenntnistheorie.

Es ist die einzige Vorlesung, die Adorno diesem Zentralthema der Philosophie gewidmet hat, nachdem im Jahr zuvor sein Husserl-Buch Zur Metakritik der Erkenntnistheorie erschienen war. Dort hatte er das »mikrologische Verfahren« der immanenten Kritik entwickelt, hier bringt er es exemplarisch zur Anwendung. Immer wieder geht es um das Aufzeigen der »Wahrheit in ihrer Unwahrheit«, wie Adorno die Kritik des Idealismus nannte. Entsprechend führt die Vorlesung nicht nur in alle Grundfragen der Erkenntnistheorie ein, sie kann auch als große Geste gelesen werden, die auf Adornos monumentales »Antisystem« vorausweist und es zu entschlüsseln hilft: die Negative Dialektik.

606 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2018

About the author

Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno was one of the most important philosophers and social critics in Germany after World War II. Although less well known among anglophone philosophers than his contemporary Hans-Georg Gadamer, Adorno had even greater influence on scholars and intellectuals in postwar Germany. In the 1960s he was the most prominent challenger to both Sir Karl Popper's philosophy of science and Martin Heidegger's philosophy of existence. Jürgen Habermas, Germany's foremost social philosopher after 1970, was Adorno's student and assistant. The scope of Adorno's influence stems from the interdisciplinary character of his research and of the Frankfurt School to which he belonged. It also stems from the thoroughness with which he examined Western philosophical traditions, especially from Kant onward, and the radicalness to his critique of contemporary Western society. He was a seminal social philosopher and a leading member of the first generation of Critical Theory.

Unreliable translations hampered the initial reception of Adorno's published work in English speaking countries. Since the 1990s, however, better translations have appeared, along with newly translated lectures and other posthumous works that are still being published. These materials not only facilitate an emerging assessment of his work in epistemology and ethics but also strengthen an already advanced reception of his work in aesthetics and cultural theory.