Integration and Critique: The Presence of Hegel in Adorno's Aesthetic Theory

Abstract

Aesthetic Theory, Adorno's posthumous work, is marked by a major and ultimately unresolved tension: On the one hand, it emphasizes the fragile and highly problematic nature of any attempt to construct a systematic philosophy of art; on the other, it frequently and emphatically invokes the very philosophical tradition that it problematizes. In other words, Aesthetic Theory radically questions the philosophical tradition that it energetically embraces. Among the philosophers addressed and cited, two stand out: Kant and Hegel. While it can be argued that in the end Kant's influence turns out to be the more important one, there can be no…