The Exile of Metaphysics: Adorno and the Language of Political Experience

Abstract

AbstractHow do our personal and political experiences shape the way we perceive and conceptualize the world? How does the impact of political events on our personal lives relate to the “ultimate” metaphysical questions? For Theodor W. Adorno, these questions are profoundly interconnected, albeit in a complex way. Although Adorno himself spent “only” eleven years of his life in exile, those years irreversibly shaped his philosophical thinking. Exile and migration – political life experiences shared by millions in the twentieth century – are for Adorno far more than objective historical conditions; they have far-reaching linguistic, epistemological and metaphysical implications. The possibility and impossibility of expressing oneself coherently in another language, the necessity of understanding and integrating into a new culture, the emotional and geographical distance from one’s place of origin and socialization: for Adorno, these issues lie at the core of philosophical thinking in the twentieth century. This paper discusses Adorno’s personal views on his own political experience of exile from and return to his native German culture, as well as the conclusions he draws for an understanding of metaphysics in times of exile and migration.