Theodor W. Adorno and the Problem of Modern Occultism
Keywords
Loading...
Authors
Issue Date
2025-08-19
Language
en
Document type
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Title
ISSN
Volume
Issue
Startpage
Endpage
DOI
Abstract
In the aftermath of the Second World War, the political nature of esotericism was increasingly put into question by various leftist authors. One work produced in this context was Theodor W. Adorno’s Thesen gegen den Okkultismus (Theses against Occultism), a short but influential text published in his 1951 volume Minima Moralia. In contemporary scholarship, Adorno’s text has been sharpy criticised. The main charges are that the text lacks rigour in defining its object of critique, that Adorno was ignorant about historically existing esotericism, and finally, that his project was motivated by an inquisitorial, intolerant attitude. Through a genealogical reconstruction of esotericism in modern times, this article demonstrates that these interpretations are predicated on a series of misunderstandings. It will be shown that Adorno was not as historically misinformed about “occultism” as previously thought, and that his Theses should be understood as a work of cultural criticism and philosophical diagnosis rather than as a work of rationalist polemicism.
Description
Citation
Supervisor
Faculty
Faculteit der Filosofie, Theologie en Religiewetenschappen