OS Borrower: |QU Lending String: "WYU,KKU,AY,AFU,KKS Patron: Larach, Gustavo Journal Title: Prisms / Volume: Issue: Month/Year: 1983Pages: 17-34 Article Author: Adorno, Theodor W., 1903-1969. Article Title: T W Adorno; Cultural Criticism and ty Call#: HM 101 .A4513 1981 Location: Coe Stacks ODYSSEY ENABLED Charge Maxcost: 25.001FM Shipping Address: University of New Mexico Zimmerman Library J Interlibrary Loan MSCO5 3020/1 University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001 University of Wyoming Libraries ILL gy & imorint: Cambro, ass; ta res, 1961, 2%, sao zggn0 B cre Email: Holl@unmedu £ ILL Number: s99g 3 i 4 2 —_———— _ 7 ee WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS The Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyright material. Under certaln conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. 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The Philosophy of Right 1982 Theodor W Adorno, Prisms, 192 PRISMS ‘THEODOR W ADORNO Translated fiom the German by SAMUEL and SHIERRY WEBER ‘The MIT Press ‘Cambridge, MassachusetsFirst MEF Press eto, 1981 ‘opyrake @ Theodor W Adorno 1967 Alrights reserved, No pat of his Book may be reproduce in any frm ‘orby any means elestoni or meshana.ncating photocopying ording, of by any information storage and reieval System, without etmision in writing fom the pusher. ‘sntd ad bound inthe United States of Amerie Library of Congzess Cataloging ia Publatlon Data Adorno, Theodor W. 05-198, iam, (Studs in contemporary German til thovsht) Calture. TE Tile IL Serie. Srisei3 ‘AACR MMIOLAGSIS I9H1 306 ISBN 0263. 0)064- CONTENTS FOREWORD by Theodor W. Adorno INTRODUCTION Traslaing the Untanltable by Samuel 'M. Weber 7 (Cuturat Crcism and Society ‘The Sociology of Knowledge and tts Consciousness Spengler afte the Decline Veblen’s Auack on Cultare Aldous Huxley and Utopia Perennial Fashion —Jezz Bach Defended agsinst his Devotees Arnold Schoenberg, 1874-1981 Valéry Proust Museum ‘The George-Hofmannathal Correspondence, 1891-1906 A Porteit of Walter Benamin Notes on Kafka 3s st n 9s 119 13 wr 187 2 28CULTURAL CRITICISM AND SOCIETY‘To anyone in the abit of thinking with his car, the words ‘ultra Cen (Rulfurdrid) must have an osfeasve fing. not merely iecatn, lke “aucosobNe, they ate pieced together from Latin and (Grech, The words eval apron contradiction. The eukural eric isnot happy wth ciilzation, to which alone he owes his discontent He speaks ay if he represented cither unadaterated nature or 3 higher historical stage. Vet he is necesorly of the ste essence stat to which he fans himself superior. ‘The insufceney of the fuljet-ericned by: Hegel in his apology for the status quo Sahich in its comfingeney snd narrowness pases jodgment cn the night ofthe extent, bocomes intolerable when the subject tlt is fadiated down to is innermost make-up by the notion to which {opposes self as independent snd soveregn But what makes the content of cultural enfucism inappropriate i not so much Tack [Of respect for that whichis crifizad ag the dazzled and arrogant fecoatition which erties surteptiiously confers on eultre. The tural etic ean hardly avoid the impatation that he haste calture Sohichcolture Tacks. His vanity aids that of culture: even nthe ecning gesture the cic clings to the notion of culture, iscated, “nguestioned, dogmatic. He sits the attack. Where there is despair nd measurcless misery, he secs only spistal phenomena the sate Stiman'sconssinusness the deine of noes. By insisting this, htism js tempted to forget the wnurlerahe, instead of striving, however impotenty, so that man may be spare. "The postion ofthe cultura eis, by virtue of its dierence from the prevailing disorder, enables him fo g0 beyond it theoretically, though often enough he merely alls behind. Bot he ineocporaes this ference into the very culture indusey which he seeks eave tehind and whi isl needs the difference in order to fancy isl Culture. Characteristic of culture's pretension to distinction, through Sthich it exempts vet from evalatson against the material condi Tons of lifes that it is insatiable. The exaggerated claims of cul- five hich in ten inere in the oveneat of the mind, remove it {ver futher from thoxe canine athe worth of sublimation »hecomes increasingly suspect when confronted both by a material futllmene near enough fo touch and by the thteatening abnitlation fof uncounted human belags The cultural ete makes svc distinc: tion his privilege and forts his legiimation by collaborating wth culture as its slid and honoured nuisance. This, however, affects the substance of eritcsm. Even the implacable rigour wih which Criteism speaks the truth of an untrue consciousness remains im Prisoned within the orbit ofthat against which it struggles, fixated fn ie surface manifestations To flaunt one's supeionty i atthe same time, to feel in. on the job. Were one to study the profession Of chitc i bourgeois society ait progzesed towards the rank of ‘cultural erie one would doubles stumble onan element of wr ftom ini origins, an element of which a writer like Belzac was Sui avare: Profesional ees wee fst fall Teor they ‘rented peopl in the market of intellectual produste In 20 doing, they occasionally gnned insights into the matter at hand, yet re ‘mained continually trafic agents, in agreement with the spire 35 Such fot wih its individual prots, OF tis they bear the mark ven afer they have dacatded the role of agent. That they should have boon enttusted with the roles of expert and then of judge was economically inevitable although accidental with respect to eit ‘objective qualifications. Ther agility, which gained them privileged postions in the general competiton~ privileged, since the fate of those judacd depends largely on thee vole—anvests their judgments With the semblance of competence. While they adroit shipped into ‘zaps and.won influence with the expansion of the press, they altuined that very authority which their profession already pe: Supposed. Their arrogance derives from the Tac that, i the fOrDs ‘of competitive society in which all being is merely there for some- thing eb, the crite himset is also measured only in tems of is marketable sucess—that i, fn terms of his beg for something else. Knowledge and undersanding were not primary, But at most by-products. and the more they are lacking, the more they are e- placed by Oneupesanehip snd conformity. Wen the crits in their Piayeroand-—art-no longer undersind what they judge and eh Thussticlly permit themselves to be degraded to propagandists or censors, itis the old dishonesty of trade fling itself in their fate “The prerogatives of information and position permit then to express “heir opinion as Hf were objctvity. Buti is slely the objectivity ‘of the ruling ming. They help to weave the vel “The notion ofthe free expresion of opinion, inded, that of ia tellcctual freedom itself in bourgeois society, upon which cultural tris is founded, has its own dialectic’ For while the mind 2» extricate itself trom a theological feud tuttage, it hs fallen rcasnaly under the anonymous sway of te staus quo, This regimentation, the result of the progressive socitaleaton of al human relations didnot simply content the mind fom without, it immigrated inc its immanent consitency. Te imposes el as feels on the aonomous minds eteronomos orders were formerly imposed on the mind which was Bound. Not only does the mind mould set forthe stke of He marktabty, and thst reproduce the sokly protfeat categories, Rather, it grows (0 "Reemble ever more cls the stats qu even where subectely fefrais from making a comedy of ff. The network of the ‘hoe is drawn ever ighten modelled after the act of exchange. I leaves the indvalconsiousess fess and lee room fr evasion, preforms it more and more throughly cuts ito prior ast were From the poslity of diferencng ise a all dtfrence dessne ses of huune isthe monotony of supph-)At the sume tne, he semblice of feodom makes refston upon one's own unfesdom incomparaby more diet than formery when suc reflection Sod in contradiction to manifest snfeedony, thus seagoing dependence Such moment, in conjunction with the soil sloton of the “spinal and inlletal leader reat nthe repression ‘of spin and intelloct Tn accordance” withthe predomi Social tendency, the interiy of the mind becomes a feton, OF HS freedom it develops ony the negative moment, the heritage of the nls monadological condition, iresponsibliy. Otherwise, how veri cligs ever mow close a a mre orament to the mate thse which it clang Yo tanstend, The scares of Kar Kraus Aint redo ofthe pes are crany otto be taken eral. ‘To invoke seriously te censor gaint hack-wstry would Be to drive out the devil with Bevsebub. Nevers, the brotaliae thon and deceit wich Rourish under tbe acs of fresom ofthe press are not aciental othe histrcal march ofthe mind, Rae they represent the stigma ofthat slavery within wich the Hieron of the mind a fake emancipation hs taken place Ths fb no- where more skin than where the mind teary at is Bond in Crcism, When the German fasts defamed the word and 2 ced it withthe inane notion ofa appreciate’ they were fo do so only bythe roggad ntress ofthe aulhritran sate hich Stl fired the pesson of Marquis Post in the imperinene of the jours. But the selsatsid cultura Barbara which he ‘ured forte aboliton of eri, the incursion of th wil! Horde into the preserve of the mind, unawares repaid kind in kind. The Testi fury of the Brownshie against “carping ile aes not amerely from his envy ofa culture which excludes him and against hich he Hindly rebels: nor x it merely his resentoent Of the petson wo can speak out the negative moment which be himself Ist repress: Decisive i shat the eit’ sovereign gesture suggests to his readers an autonomy which he does not have ai afrogtes for isi a postion of leadership which i incompatible with his ova Principle of intellectual freedom. This is innervated by his enemies Their sadism was idiosyncratialy.atracted by the. weakness, cleverly disguised as strenath, of those ho, in ther dictatorial bear ing, would have wilingly excelled the Tes lever tyrants who were {o Succeed them, Except that the fasists succumbed to the same naive as the eis, the faith in culture as soch, which reduced it {© pomp and approved spinal giants They regarded themselves 88 physicians of culture and removed the thom of ects from it They thus not only dograded eultre to the Off, but in ade ion, failed to reconize the extent to which culture and eri, for bet or for worse, are intertwined, Culture is only true when me plicily eritcal, and the mind which forgets this revenges itself in "he ris it breeds. Criism isan indispenable element of cullare which i ise contradictory! inal ts untruth stil as true as culture is untrue, Criticism is nov unjust when it dissets—this ca bes ‘greatest virtue—but rather when it paris by not partying ‘The complicity of cultuel erica with culture ley not in the mere mentality ofthe crite. Far more, itis dictated by his relation to that with which he deals. By making culture his objet, he Object fies it once more. Tis very meaning. however, isthe sispension of ‘objectification. Once culture tse his been’ debased “cultural ‘ood, with its hideous philosophical rationalization, “cultural Wales, it has already defamed its mason 1'ire The dilation of ‘ich “alues™the echo of commercial linguage is by no means faccidenalplaces cultuce af the will of the market. Fen the ew thusiasm for foreign cultures includes the excitement over the ratty in which money may be invested. If cultural eres, event best with Valery, sides with conservatvism, it Because of is un. conscious adherence wo notion of culture which, during the era of late capitalism, aims at a form of property which is stale and independent of stock-market uctoitions. This, Kea of culture assets ils distance from the system in ont, as it wote 9 offer ‘universal security in dhe middle ofa universal dynamic: The model ofthe cultural crite fs no less the appraising collector than the arti. In general, cultural eritcism real the este of bargin- ing. of the expert questioning the authenticity ofa pinting or cl fying i among the Master's lesser works, One devalates in onder 2 to get more. The cultural cre evaluates and ence inevitably invlved ina spre ssid wih “cultural vale even when Be rants agains the mortgaging of culture. His contemplative sce tonards cule noesay eral scrutinizing surveying. taancn. Selecting this pve sul him, tat he tjets Yee is very sover sign the ei fo a more profound knowlege ofthe obj, he Separation ofthe Kea frm is objet through te independence of thet judgment threatens to succum tothe thingie form Of the object When cultural elem appeals to 3 collation of Hess fn csplay as it were. and fetches snlted categories sich 38 tind, and th indviua Bui the greatest fetish of cultural exci isthe notion of cul ture soch Forno authenie work of art and notre philosophy, according to ther very meaning, haa ever exhausted isl net Sone inils binge They ave lvaye stood in relation To the acal ifespoess of Socom which they dingo) themselves, Ther very ection ofthe gut ofa ie which indy ln eallosly reproduces tel, tel issenc on independence and futonomy. ot separation from the prevalng Tel of purposes Jnple, at least at an unconcoas shen, the promis ofa condi tion in which freedom were rezed. This retains an elves [promise of etre as long a existence depends on a enced {eal and, ulmatsy. on contol over the work of oes. That Fuopeancultre inal ts readth-tht which reached the con- sumer and whch today is presebod for” whole popoltions by anager and paychotechnicans degenerated to mre iolony res! feom a change in its Tunsion with regard to material Prov its renoncnton of interference. Far fom being culture's "in the change was forced upon cule by history, Fo its only in th process of withdrawing ino Tel, oly inet thats that bouraeois culture encetes of purty Mom the comupting traces of ¢ttaltarian disorder which embrace al tas of ie nce Onl nb fa at witha fron a pra which hs scene Sted int its opposite, fom the ever-changing production Of what is always the same, from the serve ofthe cusomer who hina ‘ener the manipltor~only in 0 far ae witha feem Man, fan eullre be faithful to man. Bat sich concentation on sb Stance which absolutely one's own the eeatest example of which isto be foua inthe poetry and theoretical writings of Paul Valery ontibutes atthe same tine fo the impoverishment of that sk: Stans, Once he ind eno longer dieed stray, Hs meaning is changed despite the sitest prseration of meaning. Tough is resignation Before the fats ie and, even mere, trough is 2isolation as one “eld” among others, the mind aids the existing ‘order and takes its place within i. The emasculation of culture has angered philosophers since the time of Rousseau and the “ink: Splatering age" of Schiler’s Robhers, o Netasche and finaly, 10 the preachers of commitment for its own sake. This isthe result of turism of economic hegemony. What appear to be the deine of calture Is it coming to pure si.consciousness. Only when neues Tae a reitled, does Culture allow isl tbe idolized. Fetshism araviates towards mythology. In general, cultural crtes become Intoxicated with itols drawn from antiquity to the dubious, Tong: ‘evaporated warmih of the Eberalist era which recalled the oxgins alte in its decline. Caltoral eiiciem rejects the progressive tegration of al aspects of consciousness within the apparatus of material production, But because it fails to see through the appar tus, it tutns towards the pst, lured by the promise of immediacy. ‘This is necessitated by is own momentum and not merely by the Influence of an order which sees self obliged to drown ot its progress in dehumanization wih ries against dehumanization and progres. The ‘solaon of the tind from material production Beighteas its estem but also makes ita scapegoat in the general consciousness for that which is perpetrated in practice. Enlighten ‘ment a5 such_not as an instrument of actual domination—is held Fesponsible. Hence, the ifraonalism of cultural ericism. Once has wrenched the mind out of ite dialectic with the material condi tions of life, i seizes it wnequivecally and staiehforwaraly 98 the principle of fatally, thas undereuting the mind's own resistance, ‘The cultural crite is barred from the insight thatthe reification of lite results not from too muck enlightenment but from too Tite, and that the mutilation of man which isthe rsul of the present part lari ratonality ithe sigma ofthe total ieratcnality. The abol- tion of this iratonalty, which would eoincke with the abolition (ofthe divorce between mental and physical work, appears as chaos {o the Blindness of cultural cridciem: whoever glories order and the petrified divorce an archetype of the fragmentation of society might Some day fend is fr the cultural crite, fatal desing. He would rather that everything end than for mankind to put an end to reification. This fear harmonizes wih the interests of those interested in the perpet- ation of material denial. Whenever cultural erdsism complains of “rateiaiam, i forthers the Beli that the sn es in man's desire {or consumer goods, and not in the organization of the whole which Pn withholds these goods from man: for the cultural eric, the sin i Sate, not hunger. Were mankind to possess the wealth of goods, it would shake off the chains of that civilized. barbarism ‘whch cultural etites ascribe 10 the advanced state-of the human spirit Father than (othe retarded state of society. "The sternal values of which cultural crscism i so fond reflect the pereaial catastrophe ‘The cultural erie thrives 0a the mythical obduracy of culture, Because the existence of cultural criticism, no matter what is content, depends on the economic syst, iis involved in the fate ‘ot the system, ‘The more completely the Ie-process, including Ieisure, is dominated by modern social orders those inthe Eas, above all_the more all spiritual phenomena bear the matk ofthe fonder. Either, they may continue deel to the peretiation of the system ay entertainment or edification, and are enjoyed a5 &X- [ponents of dhe system procisly because of their socially preformed Character. Familiar, stampad and Approved by Good Housekeeping as it were, they insinuate themsalves ito a regressive consciousness, present themselves as natura’, and. permit-sdenifcation. with powers whose preponderance leaves no alterative ut that of false fove. Or, by being diferent, they bacome rarities and once again marketable, Throughout the liberals era, cultute fell within the sphere of circulation. Hence, the gradual withering away of this sphere strikes culture to the quick: With the elimination of trade nd it irational loopholes by the caleulat disttbative apparntas ‘f industry, the commercialzation of culture culminates in ab surdity. Completely subdued, administered, thoroughly “cultivated in-a sense, it dies out. Spengle's denunciation: thet mind and ‘money go together, proves correct. But because of his sympathy With diect ru, be advocated a stuctae of existence divesied ofall economic as wll as spiritual mediaions. He maliciously threw the Inind together with an economic (pe which was infact obsolete. ‘What Spengler failed to understand was that no mater to what extent the mind is product ofthat type, it imps a the same time the objective possiblity of overcoming it. Just as culture sprang ‘up inthe marketplace, athe trafic of trade, in commnicaion and negotiation, as something distinct trom the immediate srugee for individual elt preservation, just ast was closely td to trade in the era of mature capitalism, just ag its representatives were counted ‘mong the clas of “third persons" who supported theneves in life {as middlemen, so culture, considered "socaly necessary” according {0 classical rules, in the sense of reproducing tsi economically, i in the end reducal to that as which it began, to mere communica tion HS alienation from human asics terminates in is absolute 2see ery cw nec oe ey lg hay irra cota clave oa ee een ce ana enki cee Gay shy fe ao oe ee ee ect ae ane wl a hgh nt sy ae ey i at een ee St fe sata Sh a os ipa he toe eg ae oe sie ge da be rnd a serena She Sa a Nc 2% Fe ee ae oe lap sees mo ab ole te ott isabel aetna Mego Sek eae eran a we cera: alg fogpet atd Ste hoe Sikes estas Hen ral pe Bt se angi not ne re aes SER, tegen ci te ent nme ser ciate meer ma a a bogey dead of allowing the recognition ofits frailty to aise Tri set the afc sown tle italy a of eo pal ok cy emi IIR ky ebcam tance heer isi miesretc tale & Seat Shsesienrat naranashbaret mast sg ite alin a 6 tt aly sees ly HE a ae bee ry eyed want ee 2eppostion fife by the immanent drive ofthe ideal The mind SRRGR sos tat realty Joes no resomble in every respect hut Tasted subeet (0 an unconscious and faa dyaamts impli Re again its wil beyond apogee The fact tht theoty bee ‘Ses eal fore when t moves men i founded ithe objestiity St'the mind iss wish, though the flllment of is slope! {ction tist lose faith in sogy Prompted by the incompat ‘ityf ieology and eistace the mind n displaying te Bi tess alt ipl ss fort fo fee self of Welogy. Disnchaned, the mind percenes naked existence ins aakodntss and elers {typo crcim, The mind either danny the material bese, fa ocdedance withthe cvesquestonable ceeion of Ks pute ei ‘Shc oth bevomes aware of te own, qusonabe posiion, by Hoo of ts ncompatty wth the Bue Asa est the social Sonam calle Hocomes carl eis, whith preserves the etn ot wultare wile demolishing Hs presnt manifestations at ‘ie sommoditis and means of hrtabztion. Soch etc cone ‘usnes tains suscrient to cle in s0 far ax he concer ‘Sih etre distaste frm the tre horrors, From this ase the rant aude of soca theory towards cultural tian. The iced of cial km i hl heat of permanent Gem, both nits gene presuppositions is imanence inthe Sistine society and in tg coneretejadgments. For the subservience seul crs reves Int speife conten. and aly i ths ay i be ernped conclsvely. At the sme time, 4 calc {heoy hich dae not wish to succumb to “Econom, the sate fen which hols thatthe tansornation of the work ie eX tasted inthe increase of potion, must absorb cra eit (ism, the tit of ‘wich ‘const bringing. Uiewth © eo SSousnes of Hs A itostcal theory whch is unitreste Shure as mere eiphenomenon, sds preado culture fo run ramp- Sat and coltborstes nthe reprodcton ofthe evil. Cultural ta imal aad the feror of the now Rasian despots ae in ask Sgement Both afi cate a6 whole, sigheanscen, wie at ihe same tine prosribng ll forms of consciousness which ate foe madetorordr. They re tux no less ideoiogieal tha i te ‘Shen tla od ate oe al, fe Sheep negativity of cure eons for el eaasropes, To wp culure asa whole eto dpi ito he ferent wich {Soy tuhnegation, The joyous appropration of ele harmon $rowith ciate of miry mmo pains of batlescenes ‘What distinguishes islet! fom calla rtm is that i 28 heightens cultural cris until the notion of culture is itselt negated, flied and surmounted in one ‘immanent erdcism of culture, it may be argued, overlooks what is decisive: the role of ideology in soil conflicts, To suppose. if ‘nly methodologically, anything lke an independent lgie of cule {sto collaborate inthe hyposasis of culture, the ideological proton ‘seudos. The substance of culture according to this argument, Fesids notin culture alone but in ie relation fo something external to the material lfeproces. Culture as Marx observed of juries and politcal systems, cannot be fully “understood either in terms of iself.oF in terms of the so-called universal development of the mind. To jgnore this, de argument conclade, i to make Meo logy the basic matter and thus Yo establish i firmly. An infact, having taken a difectical tra, cultural ertelsm must not hypost size the eiteria of culture. Citcism retains ite mobility in fegard tocultare by recognizing the lates poston within the whole, With- jut such freedom, without consciousness transcending the imman- ‘ence of culture immanent criism ite would be inconectvable: the spontaneous movement of the object ean be followed only by Someone who is not entirely engulfed by it, But the traditional demand ofthe ieology-criique is isoll subject to: historeal ‘dynamic. The ertique was conceived against ili, the phil sophical form which reflects the fashvation of eulture, Today-how- ever, the definition of consciousness in terme of being has Bscome {means of dispensing with all consciousness which does not con- form to existence. The objectivity of th, without which the dl lestie& inconceivable, i tacitly replaced by vulgar posits and pragmatise—altimatey, that is, by bourgeois subjctivism. During the bourgens er, the prevailing thory was the seology and the ‘opposing praxis was in diect contradiction, Tada, theory hardly ests any longer andthe ideology drones asi wet, (rom the gears ofan irresistible praxis. No notion dares to be conceived any more which does not cerflly include, inal camps, explicit instrctions 4s to wo its beneficiaries are~exactly what the polemics once sought to expose. But the unidcologial thought is that which does ‘ot permit itself to he reduced to “operational terms” and instead ‘cists solely to hep the things themseves to that atcaation fora Which they are otherwise cut of by the prevailing language. Since ‘he moment arrive when every advanead economic and politcal council agreed that what was important was 10 change the world and that to interpret it was allot, it has become difical simply to invoke the Theses against Foverbech, Dialects also includes the ‘elation between action and contemplation, Inn eptch in which »ere tat eurory cre “Yeh very Luton of Weologies becomes increasingly abst. See Laat i momtanetaes Bec ine tment wre ‘sh Gogate one wir ae rpresenttiv ofthe lowermile Horse ele fete ce envio cara dean ste Er iare sme abans me Staiad tinea seem i eal aia ace Era unveils seit ag that which ie lvays 9s, om 3 origins in 0 serene i ent sores bet, teens he Shiccae skate ite eae vimana sah em Sa citer enone soe cicgcaincn tia ee ao ‘ere inal tsp — on rape, anece cy nap ge (Saget Rather nas oe frac aceasta eas iecgeme ache aetna Sitannatiinaracararec mice eeeeet eae Rpsmlnecibersons aheceer ite Gace seein tate in Ghee ee ee roi iat tect vaia to Shahn mets eens iugwettaant fy aks! which inthe Svc phere has already bce a pee for eye cepnoebn caine mane Pidaten tatu trg tee ime ad gianna ie fic bac feiiitentieeacmeeeae se She oe tren es stsete tobe maple and degrade for purposes of domination. Js explain te indequncy tne sit contains Calta ebm: they lack he expeence of that with which they fallin wing to wipe avay the moles mits sponge they dkclop an afinty Yo tartare, Their syopaes ae nevis Site more piney move unrest no mater how mich iinay connie the el of inlictanprovucie foes The thanks fon of Cutre hemes prt for promoing What it crass heat een resi seo the peenalcom ic beeen inde and sey, bh awn i Te mane, Athct'skscatl esobed in awe of soy axording othe [ots ofthe almisatons who fave appropri Eom there ‘Tisony sep to the ical rsatemen of cle: Agsnt his Stage the manent posers the ror seta Sala. ike enounly the pocpletat ts nr senogy sc whch is unas but abet pctenson fo coer Yes, fot rion oF tlt andre phnomena seks 1 2. {hrough te analysis ofthe fom and Meaning. the condition tetwcen thir objec es stat prctemson t ames what the comiency or consistency ofthe work fl express tthe $Me of the exon Such tem Jos ot sp st a gencral Sogn of th sede of te bjetve min bt scke thet, te tanto is owed sto a fephene rereepson othe {fing foo Tnaight int the neat of care Bing oly ‘ten trevcle eto utah 3 perception, the onsogueree {ramen of a thought th eokerens or eobrencs fa so ture th substan or empl ofa figure of spec Where finds insu ides no sce them Rasy 1 the nial tnd ha pholoy ch are merely the ade ofthe fe, bat ifted bak to deme than from thereon of the ob jet moments Tt pues th pe of He api, the nly Wie tak toatl e'soe aninomie ecm perce tose of Seng. A succes work, aso to mane cy, at Sno which reve cjetveconadtons a spas harmon. fh one nih apres the des of harmony neal) be ‘ur an uncompromised in tne. the vert “re eco” ows Ro mining At the se ie, however inet ria Holds in evdence tbe fact tht the mind has {vogs ben unr a spe‘ sown ff mabe fore the onions ner hich We uboute ven the most rasa re {eon athe ind on sown fafur nto by the fst hat nun aly tefxon, oat alten the exten fo Wish 2 its tus ts. Hana vin sts com tei oon Ke ha see ta gt ae icons i deep Rene ae ae a enh fle at cg ent Lm Shy ed oper dee ete ya Scie, ae a cnet ORE oe fom uc a sine ening ete data md ay oly ean ae Ped ‘dent of subject an oye the more ob tbe maa te dali be cet at eee ome Sei ara lly td he eds ents ome Shuai fe contr of pe enh gel serach Dieter cate ea ean ing et to etc oe gens aad ee wie ncaa ee iy es Me Se ance wot, e pol Sct Site Se ene Sobran mick Raine ey eta eit aca pc en it a Ee a ee Sond pope ue Jaen memes amy an min Unt ley at ccc ake aa ATE, tesa ie alent cioaty ta Seine eam Eg a mec ae a tn eb tol go ohh toe oe eee the expert Hut stony immanent coneepatag is Se tice Kno ei de ee Sst or fe Tae at tt ccm! cme trees fot eit face a coat ne tba hoe peal eon pe Sent len ay foal he oa ns ee Total hla eel knae heehee me il ot cuce of Sane ly eel ea ee astound neta fos ete ene he GS et matte iprarseet goa We fe cer eee ee agit bh cnt ne ote necie,N Meee CE ehh Woon ta ea Ne a raved 2 pnts ater sage aoe Hs fad opin Ue es das rues are Daa na Sip et sete mere, mare pu shine print On dea ele pads Rog a The ino tans civ of Weak obit. 3——SSSs— prineipte, dhe method succumbs to the very reitcation which i ts {ral theme. By transfering the notion of causality direcly from the realm of physical nature to society, it falls back behing its own | ‘object. Neverthces, the transcendent methad can still appeal to the {act that it employs refed notions oaly in so far as society itself {is reiied. Through the crudty and seveiy ofthe notion of eavsaliy, it claims to ld up a miror to society's own erudity and seven, to its debasement of the mind. But the sinister, integrated society of today no longce tolerates even those relatively. independent, tistnet moments to which the theory of the causal dependence of ‘superstructure on base once refered. Inthe open-air prison which the world is Becoming, ic no longer so important ‘6 know what ‘depen on what, such isthe extent to which evrything is one. Al ‘Phenomena rigidity, become insignias of the absolute rule of that ‘whichis. There aro no more Heologies in the authentic sense of false consciousness, only sdverisements for the world through ‘duplication and the provocative le which dors not sek belct but ‘commands silence. Hence, the question of the causal dependence of cultsre, a question which sms to embody the voice ofthat On| which euture is thought only t0 depend, takes on a backwoods fing. Of course, even the immanent method i eventually overtaken by this Tris dragged into the abyss by is object. The materialise Uansparency of eulture has not made it more honest, only more ‘vulgar. By reingushing its own particularity culture has also re Tingushed the salt of truth, which oace consisted In its opposition tw other particulars. To call it to account before a responsiblity ‘which it denies is only to confi cultural pompesity..Nevtralized fand feady-made, tradsonal culture has become worthless toda. ‘Through an inevocable proces its heritage, hypoctteally reclaimed by the Russians, has teoome expendable to the highest degree, siperiuous, trash, And the bucksters of mass culture an point (© it with a grin, for they teat it as such. The more ota society be comes, he pater the reication ofthe min and the more pare- oxica its efort to escape reication on its own, Even the most extreme consciousness of doom threatens 19 degenerate into idle hatter, Cultural critism finds isaif faced withthe nal stage of the dialectic of culture and barbarism. To write poetry after Ausch itz is barbaric. And this corrodes even the knowlege of why it has become impossible to write poetry tadny. Absolute reification, which presupposed intelectual progress as One of its elements, i ‘now pteparing to absorb the mind entirely. Ciical intligence ‘anno fe equal to this challenge as log as it confines itt to self- fatisied contemplation, “ ‘THE SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE AND ITS ‘CONSCIOUSNESS