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Adorno and Marx: Negative Dialectics and the Critique of Political Economy (Critical Theory and the Critique of Society)
While Adorno has tended to be read as a critic of the administered world and the consumer industry rather than a Marxist, Adorno and Marx establishes Adorno's negative dialectics as fundamental for understanding Marx's critique of political economy. This conception of the critique of political economy as a critical theory marks both a radical departure from traditional Marxist scholarship and from traditional readings of Adorno's work and warns against identifying Adorno with Marx or Marx with Adorno. Rather, it highlights the intersection between Adorno's critical theory and Marx's critique of political economy that produces a critical theory of economic objectivity that moves beyond Marxian economics and Adornonian social theory. Adorno and Marx offers an ingenious account of critical social theory. Its subversion of the economic categories of political economy contributes to the cutting-edge of contemporary social theory and its critique of social practice.
Adorno and Neoliberalism: The Critique of Exchange Society (Critical Theory and the Critique of Society)
by Charles A. PrusikThe first book to investigate the relevance of Theodor W. Adorno's work for theorizing the age of neoliberal capitalism. Through an engagement with Adorno's critical theory of society, Charles Prusik advances a novel approach to understanding the origins and development of neoliberalism. Offering a corrective to critics who define neoliberalism as an economic or political doctrine, Prusik argues that Adorno's dialectical theory of society can provide the basis for explaining the illusions and forms of domination that structure contemporary life. Prusik explains the importance of Marx's critique of commodity fetishism in shaping Adorno's work and focuses on the related concepts of exchange, ideology, and natural history as powerful tools for grasping the present. Through an engagement with the ideas of neoliberal economic theory, Adorno and Neoliberalism criticizes the naturalization of capitalist institutions, social relations, ideology, and cultural forms. Revealing its origins in the crises of the Fordist period, Prusik develops Adorno's analyses of class, exploitation, monopoly, and reification to situate neoliberal policies as belonging to the fundamental antagonisms of capitalist society.
Adorno and Neoliberalism: The Critique of Exchange Society (Critical Theory and the Critique of Society)
by Charles A. PrusikThe first book to investigate the relevance of Theodor W. Adorno's work for theorizing the age of neoliberal capitalism. Through an engagement with Adorno's critical theory of society, Charles Prusik advances a novel approach to understanding the origins and development of neoliberalism. Offering a corrective to critics who define neoliberalism as an economic or political doctrine, Prusik argues that Adorno's dialectical theory of society can provide the basis for explaining the illusions and forms of domination that structure contemporary life. Prusik explains the importance of Marx's critique of commodity fetishism in shaping Adorno's work and focuses on the related concepts of exchange, ideology, and natural history as powerful tools for grasping the present. Through an engagement with the ideas of neoliberal economic theory, Adorno and Neoliberalism criticizes the naturalization of capitalist institutions, social relations, ideology, and cultural forms. Revealing its origins in the crises of the Fordist period, Prusik develops Adorno's analyses of class, exploitation, monopoly, and reification to situate neoliberal policies as belonging to the fundamental antagonisms of capitalist society.
Adorno and the Ban on Images
by Sebastian TruskolaskiThis book upends some of the myths that have come to surround the work of the philosopher Theodor W. Adorno – not least amongst them, his supposed fatalism. Sebastian Truskolaski argues that Adorno's writings allow us to address what is arguably the central challenge of modern philosophy: how to picture a world beyond suffering and injustice without, at the same time, betraying its vital impulse. By re-appraising Adorno's writings on politics, philosophy, and art, this book reconstructs this notoriously difficult author's overall project from a radically new perspective (Adorno's famous 'standpoint of redemption'), and brings his central concerns to bear on the problems of today. On the one hand, this means reading Adorno alongside his principal interlocutors (including Kant, Marx and Benjamin). On the other hand, it means asking how his secular brand of social criticism can serve to safeguard the image of a better world – above all, when the invocation of this image occurs alongside Adorno's recurrent reference to the Old Testament ban on making images of God. By reading Adorno in this iconoclastic way, Adorno and the Ban on Images contributes to current debates about Utopia that have come to define political visions across the political spectrum.
Adorno and the Ban on Images
by Sebastian TruskolaskiThis book upends some of the myths that have come to surround the work of the philosopher Theodor W. Adorno – not least amongst them, his supposed fatalism. Sebastian Truskolaski argues that Adorno's writings allow us to address what is arguably the central challenge of modern philosophy: how to picture a world beyond suffering and injustice without, at the same time, betraying its vital impulse. By re-appraising Adorno's writings on politics, philosophy, and art, this book reconstructs this notoriously difficult author's overall project from a radically new perspective (Adorno's famous 'standpoint of redemption'), and brings his central concerns to bear on the problems of today. On the one hand, this means reading Adorno alongside his principal interlocutors (including Kant, Marx and Benjamin). On the other hand, it means asking how his secular brand of social criticism can serve to safeguard the image of a better world – above all, when the invocation of this image occurs alongside Adorno's recurrent reference to the Old Testament ban on making images of God. By reading Adorno in this iconoclastic way, Adorno and the Ban on Images contributes to current debates about Utopia that have come to define political visions across the political spectrum.
Adorno and the Ends of Philosophy
by Andrew BowieTheodor Adorno’s reputation as a cultural critic has been well-established for some time, but his status as a philosopher remains unclear. In Adorno and the Ends of Philosophy Andrew Bowie seeks to establish what Adorno can contribute to philosophy today. Adorno’s published texts are notably difficult and have tended to hinder his reception by a broad philosophical audience. His main influence as a philosopher when he was alive was, though, often based on his very lucid public lectures. Drawing on these lectures, both published and unpublished, Bowie argues that important recent interpretations of Hegel, and related developments in pragmatism, echo key ideas in Adorno’s thought. At the same time, Adorno’s insistence that philosophy should make the Holocaust central to the assessment of modern rationality suggests ways in which these approaches should be complemented by his preparedness to confront some of the most disturbing aspects of modern history. What emerges is a remarkably clear and engaging re-interpretation of Adorno’s thought, as well as an illuminating and original review of the state of contemporary philosophy.Adorno and the Ends of Philosophy will be indispensable to students of Adorno’s work at all levels. This compelling book is also set to ignite debate surrounding the reception of Adorno’s philosophy and bring him into the mainstream of philosophical debate at a time when the divisions between analytical and European philosophy are increasingly breaking down.
Adorno and the Ends of Philosophy
by Andrew BowieTheodor Adorno’s reputation as a cultural critic has been well-established for some time, but his status as a philosopher remains unclear. In Adorno and the Ends of Philosophy Andrew Bowie seeks to establish what Adorno can contribute to philosophy today. Adorno’s published texts are notably difficult and have tended to hinder his reception by a broad philosophical audience. His main influence as a philosopher when he was alive was, though, often based on his very lucid public lectures. Drawing on these lectures, both published and unpublished, Bowie argues that important recent interpretations of Hegel, and related developments in pragmatism, echo key ideas in Adorno’s thought. At the same time, Adorno’s insistence that philosophy should make the Holocaust central to the assessment of modern rationality suggests ways in which these approaches should be complemented by his preparedness to confront some of the most disturbing aspects of modern history. What emerges is a remarkably clear and engaging re-interpretation of Adorno’s thought, as well as an illuminating and original review of the state of contemporary philosophy.Adorno and the Ends of Philosophy will be indispensable to students of Adorno’s work at all levels. This compelling book is also set to ignite debate surrounding the reception of Adorno’s philosophy and bring him into the mainstream of philosophical debate at a time when the divisions between analytical and European philosophy are increasingly breaking down.
Adorno and the Modern Ethos of Freedom
by Colin HearfieldDelivering a concise and lucid account of Adorno's response to the modern question of freedom, Hearfield sets into critical relief six other modern philosophies of freedom from Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Foucault and Habermas. The book presents a broad variety of perspectives concerning the question of freedom, and draws out the contrasting and superior merit of Adorno's response. Hearfield employs an interpretive framework that makes a distinction between a conceptual ratio (Kant, Hegel and Habermas) and an existential poiesis (Nietzsche, Heidegger and Foucault). The book includes singular reconstructions of Adorno's immanent critiques of Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche and Heidegger, and demonstrates the theoretical instabilities peculiar to Foucault and Habermas. The book concludes by revealing the respective 'blind spots' in the conceptual ratio and existential poiesis modes of thinking, which block our capacity for becoming free.
Adorno and the Modern Ethos of Freedom
by Colin HearfieldDelivering a concise and lucid account of Adorno's response to the modern question of freedom, Hearfield sets into critical relief six other modern philosophies of freedom from Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Foucault and Habermas. The book presents a broad variety of perspectives concerning the question of freedom, and draws out the contrasting and superior merit of Adorno's response. Hearfield employs an interpretive framework that makes a distinction between a conceptual ratio (Kant, Hegel and Habermas) and an existential poiesis (Nietzsche, Heidegger and Foucault). The book includes singular reconstructions of Adorno's immanent critiques of Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche and Heidegger, and demonstrates the theoretical instabilities peculiar to Foucault and Habermas. The book concludes by revealing the respective 'blind spots' in the conceptual ratio and existential poiesis modes of thinking, which block our capacity for becoming free.
Adorno and the Political (Thinking the Political)
by Espen HammerInterest in Theodor W. Adorno continues to grow in the English-speaking world as the significance of his contribution to philosophy, social and cultural theory, as well as aesthetics is increasingly recognized. Espen Hammer’s lucid book is the first to properly analyze the political implications of his work, paying careful attention to Adorno’s work on key thinkers such as Kant, Hegel and Benjamin. Examining Adorno’s political experiences and assessing his engagement with Marxist as well as liberal theory, Hammer looks at the development of Adorno’s thought as he confronts Fascism and modern mass culture. He then analyzes the political dimension of his philosophical and aesthetic theorizing. By addressing Jürgen Habermas’s influential criticisms, he defends Adorno as a theorist of autonomy, responsibility and democratic plurality. He also discusses Adorno’s relevance to feminist and ecological thinking. As opposed to those who see Adorno as someone who relinquished the political, Hammer’s account shows his reflections to be, on the most fundamental level, politically motivated and deeply engaged. This invigorating exploration of a major political thinker is a useful introduction to his thought as a whole, and will be of interest to scholars and students in the fields of philosophy, sociology, politics and aesthetics.
Adorno and the Political (Thinking the Political)
by Espen HammerInterest in Theodor W. Adorno continues to grow in the English-speaking world as the significance of his contribution to philosophy, social and cultural theory, as well as aesthetics is increasingly recognized. Espen Hammer’s lucid book is the first to properly analyze the political implications of his work, paying careful attention to Adorno’s work on key thinkers such as Kant, Hegel and Benjamin. Examining Adorno’s political experiences and assessing his engagement with Marxist as well as liberal theory, Hammer looks at the development of Adorno’s thought as he confronts Fascism and modern mass culture. He then analyzes the political dimension of his philosophical and aesthetic theorizing. By addressing Jürgen Habermas’s influential criticisms, he defends Adorno as a theorist of autonomy, responsibility and democratic plurality. He also discusses Adorno’s relevance to feminist and ecological thinking. As opposed to those who see Adorno as someone who relinquished the political, Hammer’s account shows his reflections to be, on the most fundamental level, politically motivated and deeply engaged. This invigorating exploration of a major political thinker is a useful introduction to his thought as a whole, and will be of interest to scholars and students in the fields of philosophy, sociology, politics and aesthetics.
Adorno and Theology (Philosophy and Theology)
by Christopher Craig BrittainTheodor Wiesengrund Adorno (1903-1969), the German sociologist and philosopher was one of the intellectual leaders of the post-war Frankfurt School. This book presents and analyzes Adorno's writings on theology and religion in a clear and accessible manner. It is targeted at upper level undergraduate and postgraduate students, and will not presuppose any familiarity with Adorno. The book includes a general introduction to Adorno's thought, and examines his relationship with the work of Walter Benjamin and Jewish theology, his confrontation with scientific positivism (Karl Popper), and his criticism of the "Culture Industry" and ideology. All of these topics are explored with attention to how they engage with contemporary debates within theology. This is accomplished by bringing Adorno's work into dialogue with major concerns and authors. The volume concludes by highlighting an often neglected aspect of Adorno's writing - his philosophy of music - and how this aesthetic appreciation of the sublime informs contemporary theological reflection.
Adorno-Handbuch: Leben – Werk – Wirkung
by Stefan Müller-Doohm Johann Kreuzer Richard KleinDas Handbuch präsentiert den Diskussionsstand zu Werk und Wirkung Theodor W. Adornos und bietet inhaltliche wie methodische Werkzeuge für die Auseinandersetzung mit dieser für die deutschsprachigen Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften des 20. Jahrhunderts prägenden Gestalt. Dokumentation und Bestandsaufnahme einerseits, Kritik und Neudeutung andererseits sind die Ziele eines Unternehmens, in dem es nicht um die Verbreitung einer kodifizierten Lehre geht, sondern um die Darstellung und Analyse der Problemstellungen und Denkmöglichkeiten, für die Adorno exemplarisch steht. – Zentrales Anliegen des Handbuchs ist der spezifisch interdisziplinäre Charakter des Adornoschen Philosophierens. Dessen Potential erschöpft sich nicht in fachgebundener Forschung, sondern wird in der kritischen Verschränkung von Kunst, Musik, Philosophie und den Fachwissenschaften virulent. Für schulbedingte Verengungen ist kein Platz. Die über 40 Beiträger lassen vielmehr die verschiedenen Zugangsweisen und Temperamente in der Auseinandersetzung mit Adornos Werk deutlich werden.Für die 2. Auflage wurde das Handbuch grundlegend durchgesehen, aktualisiert und um 15 Einträge erweitert.
Adorno-Handbuch: Leben – Werk – Wirkung
Prägender Denker für die Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften. Das Handbuch präsentiert den aktuellen Diskussionsstand zu Werk und Wirkung Theodor W. Adornos. Es beleuchtet zentrale Fragestellungen des wegweisenden Philosophen und bietet inhaltliche und methodische Werkzeuge zur Auseinandersetzung mit seinen Schriften. Über 40 Beiträger lassen die verschiedenen Zugangsweisen in der Beschäftigung mit Adorno deutlich werden. So kommt der spezifisch interdisziplinäre Charakter des Adornoschen Philosophierens hervorragend zum Ausdruck.
Adorno on Music (International Library of Sociology)
by Robert W. WitkinAdorno is one of the leading cultural thinkers of the twentieth century. This is the first detailed account of Adorno's texts on music from a sociological perspective. In clear, non-technical language, Robert Witkin guides the reader through the complexities of Adorno's argument about the link between music and morality and between musical works and social structure. It was largely through these works Adorno established the right of the arts to be acknowledged as a moral and critical force in the development of a modern society. By recovering them for non-musicologists, Witkin adds immeasurably to our appreciation of this giant of twentieth-century thought.
Adorno on Music (International Library of Sociology)
by Robert W. WitkinAdorno is one of the leading cultural thinkers of the twentieth century. This is the first detailed account of Adorno's texts on music from a sociological perspective. In clear, non-technical language, Robert Witkin guides the reader through the complexities of Adorno's argument about the link between music and morality and between musical works and social structure. It was largely through these works Adorno established the right of the arts to be acknowledged as a moral and critical force in the development of a modern society. By recovering them for non-musicologists, Witkin adds immeasurably to our appreciation of this giant of twentieth-century thought.
Adorno on Nature
by Deborah CookDecades before the environmental movement emerged in the 1960s, Adorno condemned our destructive and self-destructive relationship to the natural world, warning of the catastrophe that may result if we continue to treat nature as an object that exists exclusively for our own benefit. "Adorno on Nature" presents the first detailed examination of the pivotal role of the idea of natural history in Adorno's work. A comparison of Adorno's concerns with those of key ecological theorists - social ecologist Murray Bookchin, ecofeminist Carolyn Merchant, and deep ecologist Arne Naess - reveals how Adorno speaks directly to many of today's most pressing environmental issues. Ending with a discussion of the philosophical conundrum of unity in diversity, "Adorno on Nature" also explores how social solidarity can be promoted as a necessary means of confronting environmental problems.
Adorno on Nature
by Deborah CookDecades before the environmental movement emerged in the 1960s, Adorno condemned our destructive and self-destructive relationship to the natural world, warning of the catastrophe that may result if we continue to treat nature as an object that exists exclusively for our own benefit. "Adorno on Nature" presents the first detailed examination of the pivotal role of the idea of natural history in Adorno's work. A comparison of Adorno's concerns with those of key ecological theorists - social ecologist Murray Bookchin, ecofeminist Carolyn Merchant, and deep ecologist Arne Naess - reveals how Adorno speaks directly to many of today's most pressing environmental issues. Ending with a discussion of the philosophical conundrum of unity in diversity, "Adorno on Nature" also explores how social solidarity can be promoted as a necessary means of confronting environmental problems.
Adorno Reframed: Interpreting Key Thinkers for the Arts (Contemporary Thinkers Reframed)
by Geoff BoucherDismissed as a miserable elitist who condemned popular culture in the name of 'high art', Theodore W. Adorno (1903-1969) is one of the most provocative and important yet least understood of contemporary thinkers. This book draws on new translations into English to challenge this popular image and re-examines Adorno as a utopian philosopher who believed authentic art could save the world.Adorno Reframed is not only a comprehensive introduction to the reader coming to Adorno for the first time through detailed discussion of artworks, novels, films and music, but an important re-evaluation of this founder of the Frankfurt School. Influenced by Kant, Hegel, Freud, Marx, Nietzche and Kierkegaard, Adorno was a searing critic of the formal, reductive rationality of the Enlightenment and of modernity. Unafraid to talk about human nature, undaunted by dogmas regarding cultural construction, Adorno loved art that hurts, that challenged the prevailing culture of the day and resisted the managed, commodified pseudo-happiness of 'administered society'. Defending the independence of the natural world and the particularity of the human individual, for Adorno real authentic art was a defiant refusal to subordinate the materiality of the world and the lived reality of human activity to the imperatives of social totality.Making his theory accessible through a wealth of concrete illustrations, many drawn from Adorno himself, Geoffrey Boucher recasts Adorno as a revolutionary whose anthropological vision of the human condition, sense of subversive irony and profoundly historical aesthetics defended the integrity of the individual against the commodified culture industries that supply unsatisfying consumer 'happiness'. Grounding Adorno's social philosophy and aesthetic theory in contextualised analysis of artists ranging from Stockhausen and Kafka to David Lynch and Brett Easton-Ellis, Adorno Reframed takes its subject from interwar modernity into the postmodern and feminist present to examine the legacy and influence of Adorno's radical modernism and his belief that art was in the final analysis a way to cope with, not escape, reality.
Adorno und die Folgen
by Gerhard SchweppenhäuserDas Buch stellt Adorno – mit Blick auf vielfältige Spiegelungen, Anschlüsse, Kontroversen und Kritiken – als einen der komplexesten und facettenreichsten sozial- und kulturphilosophischen Denker des 20. Jahrhunderts vor. Ein Grund für Adornos anhaltende Wirkung ist die enorme Breite des Themenspektrums, zu dem er wirkungsvolle Beiträge geleistet hat. Die pointierte Auseinandersetzung mit gesellschaftlichen Strukturen und Phänomenen des Alltagslebens macht seine Version kritischer Theorie immer wieder für heranwachsende Generationen interessant. Weil er sowohl dem Gestus der radikalen Avantgarde verpflichtet gewesen ist als auch tief in der kulturellen und philosophischen Tradition verwurzelt war, ist sein Werk ein wesentlicher Teil unseres kulturellen Gedächtnisses geworden. Seine mediale Präsenz zu Lebzeiten hat bewirkt, dass einige Formulierungen aus seiner Feder bis heute als geflügelte Worte im Diskurs präsent sind.
Adorno’s Aesthetics as a Literary Theory of Art
by Mario FarinaThis book re-examines Adorno’s aesthetics, developing a new literary approach that aims to unveil hidden elements of Adorno’s thought. Farina proposes to read Adorno’s aesthetics as a literary theory of art, showing its efficacy in its comprehension of the most advanced trends of contemporary literature. As a result, this book provides an image of Adorno’s aesthetics as a complete, satisfying and consistent philosophy of literature, a robust theory which is able to stand its ground in contemporary aesthetic debate. Challenging the prevalent prejudice that defines Adorno’s thought, and especially his aesthetics, as ‘modernist’, Farina argues that Adorno's philosophy of literature shows its value precisely in its application to and comprehension of postmodern literature, such as the works of Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo and David Foster Wallace. Precise and compelling, this book provides a new paradigm for understanding Adorno’s theory of artwork, serving as an essential reference for researches investigating the relation between classical critical theory and contemporary art.
Adornos Kritische Theorie der Zeit
by Gabriele GemlZeit spielt in Adornos Philosophie eine tragende, allerdings vergleichsweise verdeckte Rolle. Gabriele Geml zeigt in diesem Buch, wie Adorno über die Zeit seiner Zeit dachte, indem sie modellhaft unterschiedliche Stränge dieser Zeittheorie rekonstruiert. Deren Besonderheiten liegen in der Zusammenführung von soziokulturellen, geschichtsphilosophischen und ästhetischen – insbesondere musikästhetischen – Problemkreisen; darüber hinaus in der sprachlichen Darstellungsform, die Adorno gemäß seiner Auffassung von Kritischer Theorie als eine Gestalt von Praxis begriff.
Adorno's 'Minima Moralia' in the 21st Century: Fascism, Work, and Ecology
by Caren IrrThis interdisciplinary volume revisits Adorno's lesser-known work, Minima Moralia, and makes the case for its application to the most urgent concerns of the 21st century. Contributing authors situate Adorno at the heart of contemporary debates on the ecological crisis, the changing nature of work, the idea of utopia, and the rise of fascism. Exploring the role of critical pedagogy in shaping responses to fascistic regimes, alongside discussions of extractive economies and the need for leisure under increasingly precarious working conditions, this volume makes new connections between Minima Moralia and critical theory today. Another line of focus is the aphoristic style of Minima Moralia and its connection to Adorno's wider commitment to small and minor literary forms, which enable capitalist critique to be both subversive and poetic. This critique is further located in Adorno's discussion of a utopia that is reliant on complete rejection of the totalising system of capitalism. The distinctive feature of such a utopia for Adorno is dependent upon individual suffering and subsequent survival, an argument this book connects to the mutually constitutive relationship between ecological destruction and right-wing authoritarianism. These timely readings of Adorno's Minima Moralia teach us to adapt through our survival, and to pursue a utopia based on his central ideas. In the process, opening up theoretical spaces and collapsing the physical borders between us in the spirit of Adorno's lifelong project.
Adorno's 'Minima Moralia' in the 21st Century: Fascism, Work, and Ecology
by Caren IrrThis interdisciplinary volume revisits Adorno's lesser-known work, Minima Moralia, and makes the case for its application to the most urgent concerns of the 21st century. Contributing authors situate Adorno at the heart of contemporary debates on the ecological crisis, the changing nature of work, the idea of utopia, and the rise of fascism. Exploring the role of critical pedagogy in shaping responses to fascistic regimes, alongside discussions of extractive economies and the need for leisure under increasingly precarious working conditions, this volume makes new connections between Minima Moralia and critical theory today. Another line of focus is the aphoristic style of Minima Moralia and its connection to Adorno's wider commitment to small and minor literary forms, which enable capitalist critique to be both subversive and poetic. This critique is further located in Adorno's discussion of a utopia that is reliant on complete rejection of the totalising system of capitalism. The distinctive feature of such a utopia for Adorno is dependent upon individual suffering and subsequent survival, an argument this book connects to the mutually constitutive relationship between ecological destruction and right-wing authoritarianism. These timely readings of Adorno's Minima Moralia teach us to adapt through our survival, and to pursue a utopia based on his central ideas. In the process, opening up theoretical spaces and collapsing the physical borders between us in the spirit of Adorno's lifelong project.
Adorno’s Philosophy of the Nonidentical: Thinking as Resistance
by Oshrat C. SilberbuschThis book focuses on a central notion in Theodor. W. Adorno’s philosophy: the nonidentical. The nonidentical is what our conceptual framework cannot grasp and must therefore silence, the unexpressed other of our rational engagement with the world. This study presents the nonidentical as the multidimensional centerpiece of Adorno’s reflections on subjectivity, truth, suffering, history, art, morality and politics, revealing the intimate relationship between how and what we think. Adorno’s work, written in the shadow of Auschwitz, is a quest for a different way of thinking, one that would give the nonidentical a voice – as the somatic in reasoning, the ephemeral in truth, the aesthetic in cognition, the other in society. Adorno’s philosophy of the nonidentical reveals itself not only as a powerful hermeneutics of the past, but also as an important tool for the understanding of modern phenomena such as xenophobia, populism, political polarization, identity politics, and systemic racism.