Studies in a Dying Culture

Adorno’s Negative Dialectic: Philosophy and the Possibility of Critical Rationality Brian O’Connor Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2004. http://www.scribd.com/doc/87513357/Brian-O-Connor-Adorno-s-Negative-Dialectic-Philosophy-and-the-Possibility-of-Critical-Rationality-The-MIT-Press 1 I did a very quick read of this book, which is a preposterous thing to do considering the difficulty of the subject matter. Furthermore, it is not fully comprehensible without a thorough grounding in Kant, [...]

“The appearance of depth is frequently the product of a complicity with suffering. A monstrous German tradition associates profound thoughts with the theodicy of evil and death. A theological terminus ad quem is tacitly assumed, as if what determined the dignity of an idea were its result, the confirmation of transcendence, or its immersion in [...]

I blogged on this subject before: Leibniz (entry in old blog) . . . in reference to this book written for a popular audience: Stewart, Matthew. The Courtier and the Heretic: Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World. New York: Norton, 2006. Stewart highlights Leibniz’ fascination with Spinoza and the decisive challenge [...]

Edited from original of 08 July 2006: Cook, Daniel J. “Marx’s Critique Of Philosophical Language,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 42 (June 1982): 530-554. ABSTRACT: Though Marx never systematically developed a theory of language, he often commented in his pre-1848 writings on the role of language in traditional philosophies and ideologies. In this paper, I examine [...]

Stephen Eric Bronner is not content to regurgitate the critical theory of its European originators of an earlier era, and he is not averse to criticizing their lapses. None of his books are to be missed, but for critical theory I suggest Of Critical Theory and Theorists above all. In October 2006 I read the [...]