Subjetividade e autoritarismo na filosofia da educação de Theodor W. Adorno

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the relevance and the actuality of Theodor W. Adorno’s reflections on education. In this context, It shows that the central point of Adorno´s philosophy of education is his concern for ways of authoritarian subjectivation and its antidemocratic potential in light of the German recent past. The paper points out that the so-called “turn to the subject”, the Adorno´s leitmotiv for a critical pedagogy, must be understood in relation to Adorno´s empirical works on authoritarianism carried on from around the 50´s and to certain issues of his philosophy, such as the idea of crisis of experience, his critique of the autonomous subject and his anti-conformist criticism. The article is based on a critical and interpretative reading of Adornos texts on education, especially of his lectures and writings published in the volume Education for Emancipation, as well as other important texts of his work. The general objective of the article is to think about the role of education in the formation of appropriate ways of subjectivation for a democratic life and that be capable of resisting manifestations of social authoritarianism. In the conclusions it will be shown that the core of the problem is the rigidity and the non-critical identity of forms of individualities, which the political education for democracy should call into question