Author Meets Critics: "Adorno and the Sources of Normativity" by Peter E. Gordon

Session Submission Type: Author meet critics

Session Description

An author meets critics session dedicated to the discussion of the new book by Peter E. Gordon, 'A Precarious Happiness: Adorno and the Sources of Normativity.’ Based on the Adorno Vorlesungen that he originally presented under the auspices of the Institute for Social Research at the Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt in 1919 to mark the 50th anniversary of the philosopher’s death, Gordon’s new book has been published simultaneously in German with Suhrkamp Verlag and in English with the University of Chicago.
The book sets forth a strongly revisionist interpretation of Adorno’s philosophy. Against standard readings that portray Adorno as a social theorist of totalizing negativity, Gordon argues that Adorno is best understood as a theorist who remains committed to traces of normatively charged experience. A critical theorist must answer the challenge of self-reflexivity, namely, by offering a picture of the social world in which the very practice of criticism is possible. Adorno can respond to this challenge only because he understands his work as emerging from precarious instances of the good in the midst of the bad. His version of immanent critique appeals to such moments as normative standards in order to explain why we find our current order objectionable. Such standards are not incorrigible; rather, Adorno recognizes that we must “hold fast to the normative” even while we admit that our standards have grown increasingly uncertain. These standards permit him to practice an exacting critique of modern society in all its dimensions. Gordon’s book offers a comprehensive re-interpretation that spans the full range of Adorno’s thought, from his political theory to his aesthetics, and from his sociology to his moral philosophy. It also seeks to defend Adorno’s version of social critique from competing models (such as the genealogical practice as exemplified by Foucault) that evade the challenge of self-reflexivity. The book has appeared in German with praise from Adorno’s most celebrated student, Jürgen Habermas, who writes that “Gordon’s confidently gripping and persistently subtle interpretation brings a new tone to the debate about Adorno’s negativism.”
Discussants of the book will include: Robyn Marasco (Hunter College); Espen Hammer (Temple University) Eduardo Mendieta (Penn State) and Bernard Harcourt (Columbia University). With a response by Peter E. Gordon (Harvard University).

Sub Unit

• Division 2: Foundations of Political Theory

Chair

• Peter E. Gordon Harvard University

Presenters

• Robyn Marasco CUNY, Hunter College

• Bernard E. Harcourt Columbia University