A note on sponsorship:
Theodore Plantinga
Professor of Philosophy
Redeemer University College
Ancaster, Ontario, Canada
Click here to visit the site map for the entire website and to get an overview of what this index aims to do.
[START OF NEW RECORD]
Author(s): B.J.
van der Walt
[sn vanderwalt]
Editor(s):
Title: ANATOMY OF REFORMATION
Subtitle: Flashes and fragments of a reformational worldview
Translator(s):
Place of publication:
Publisher: Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education
Year of publication: 1991
Edition:
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
Preface
1. Christ: conservative, revolutionary, ascetic, or ... ? 1
2. Christ and the religious order of his day 17
3. Christ and the social order of his time 27
4. Christ and the political situation of his day 39
5. The new way of reformation 57
6. John Hus: a reformer in his own right 83
7. Ulrich Zwingli: his message for South Africa today 115
8. John Knox: the Scottish reformer who feared no man 149
9. Sixteenth century models for Christian involvement in the world 159
10. Renaissance and Reformation: contemporaries but not allies 201
11. The intellectual decor of the Reformation; with special reference to Calvin 209
12. Church reformation: permanent call 257
13. Out of love for my church; on the reformation of a reformed church 281
14. Not of the world but in the world; the calling of the church in the world 319
15. Church mission or Kingdom mission? The kingdom perspective in our missionary endeavour 343
16. Flee from the idols! 361
17. The idolatry of ideologies 377
18. The evangelical, revolutionary and reformational views of social change 389
19. The calling of government and citizen; where do we stand in South Africa at this stage? 439
20. Integral Christian scholarship; looking into the heart of a Christian university 459
21. God's hand in history? 485
22. Norms, means and ends; a reformational approach to economics 497
23. The consistent problem-historical method of philosophical historiography 531
24. The will of God; how the Holy Spirit directs us in the taking of difficult decisions 559
Postscript: Systematic reflection on a reformational worldview 577
Other books by the same author 581
[last page is numbered 581]
INDEX
This book has no index.
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Author(s): Prof. B.J.
van der Walt
[sn vanderwalt]
Editor(s):
Title: Heartbeat
Subtitle: Taking the pulse of our Christian theological and philosophical heritage
Translator(s):
Place of publication: Potchefstroom
Publisher: Potcheftroom University
Year of publication: 1978. Second print: 1983
Edition:
CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
1. Historiography of philosophy: the consistent problem-historic method 5
2. Ancient Greek thought: origins of Western theology 30
3. Eisegesis-exegesis, paradox and nature-grace: methods of synthesis in Medieval philosophy 60
4. The problem of the relation between faith and knowledge in Early Christian and Medieval thought 86
5. The encounter of Arabic and Christian civilizations in Medieval philosophy with particular reference to the conflict between faith and reason. A comparison between the viewpoints of Averroes and Thomas Aquinas 111
6. In the steps of Thomas Aquinas: 1274-1974 -- A bibliographical sketch 122
7. Thomas Aquinas and the fundamental problems of our time 131
8. The Philosophical Conception of Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Contra Gentiles 143
9. Thomas Aquinas' idea about wonders -- a critical appraisal 161
10. The relevance of Thomas Aquinas' view of Theology (as expressed in his Summa Contra Gentiles) for contemporary studies 174
11. Man, the tension-ridden bridge between the transcendent and the non-transcendent world in the thought of Bonaventure of Bagnorea 197
12. Regnum hominis et regnum Dei. Historical-critical discussion of the relationship between nature and supernature according to Duns Scotus 213
13. Biblical and unbiblical traits in Calvin's view of man 229
14. Natural Theology with special reference to the viewpoints of Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and the Synopsis Purioris Theologiae 253
15. Theologia Naturalis redivivus. Some critical remarks on the resurgence of Natural Theology and Theodicy 259
16. Acts 17:15-34 and Romans 1:18-25: evidence of contact-points in mission work, or proofs for a Natural Theology? 272
17. The relapse into Scholasticism during the Further Reformation -- A preliminary survey 278
18. How do we know that the Bible is the Word of God? A few remarks on General Canonics and Apologetics 299
[last page is numbered 307]
INDEX
This book has no index.
[START OF NEW RECORD]
Author(s): Prof. B.J.
van der Walt
[sn vanderwalt]
Editor(s):
Title: Horizon
Subtitle: Surveying a route for contemporary Christian thought
Translator(s):
Place of publication: Potchefstroom
Publisher: Potcheftroom University
Year of publication: 1978. Second print: 1983
Edition:
CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
1. Life and world view: a philosophical analysis 1
2. A comparison between Bantu and Western thought. Outline for an exploratory discussion 19
3. The Gospel as a liberating power in the traditionally closed, static culture of the Black peoples of Africa 50
4. The evolutionistic life and world view 79
5. The importance of a Scripture-based Ontology 92
6. Radical Biblical Anthropology 101
7. The meaning of the expression "created in the image and likeness of God" 120
8. The relationships of man: a studium generale 131
9. The value and task of Philosophy at the university 147
10. Ethics: theoretical or practical science? 167
11. In lumine Tuo videbimus lumen: integral Christian scholarship 183
12. Amazement at the marvellous 198
13. A few observations on the place and nature of scientific criticism 203
14. The profile of the twentieth century in the seventies: an analysis of the contours of contemporary Western culture 207
15. Contemporary Western culture and counter-culture 218
16. Is the Christian-National principle Calvinistic? 242
17. Maturity: contours of a viewpoint 253
18. In the power of the Spirit. Spiritual readiness under Scriptural illumination 264
[last page is numbered 297]
INDEX
This book has no index.
[START OF NEW RECORD]
Author(s): Henry R.
Van Til
[sn vantil]
Editor(s):
Title: The Calvinistic Concept of Cuture
Subtitle:
Translator(s):
Place of publication: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Publisher: THE PRESBYTERIAN AND REFORMED PUBLISHING COMPANY
Year of publication: 1959
Edition:
CONTENTS
Part I
Defining the Issue
Chapter 1 -- Introduction: The Problem Stated 15
Chapter 2 -- The Concept of Culture 25
Chapter 3 -- The Relationship of Religion and Culture 37
Chapter 4 -- Calvinism Defined 47
Chapter 5 -- The Calvinistic Conception of Sin and Its Effects on Cuture 57
Part II
Historical Orientation
Chapter 6 -- Augustine, the philosopher of Spiritual Antithesis and Cultural Transformation 67
Chapter 7 -- John Calvin: Cultural Theologian and Reformer of the Whole of Life 89
Chapter 8 -- Abraham Kuyper: Theologian of Common Grace and the Kingship of Christ 117
Chapter 9 -- Schilder: Christ, the Key to Culture 137
Part III
Basic Considerations Toward a Definition
Chapter 10 -- The Authority of Scripture in Calvinistic Culture 157
Chapter 11 -- The Motivation of Faith in Calvinistic Culture 169
Chapter 12 -- Calvinistic Culture and the Antithesis 179
Chapter 13 -- The Calvinist and the World 191
Chapter 14 -- Calvinistic Culture and Christ's Mediatorial Kingship 205
Chapter 15 -- Calvinistic Culture and Christian Calling 217
Chapter 16 -- Calvinistic Culture and Common Grace 229
[last page is numbered 245]
INDEX
This book has no index.
[START OF NEW RECORD]
Authors: Albert
Wolters
with a postscript coauthored by Michael W. Goheen
Title: Creation Regained
Subtitle: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview
Place of publication: Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, U.K.
Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Year of publication: 2005
Edition: Second
CONTENTS
Preface to the Second Edition ix
1. What is a Worldview? 1
2. Creation 13
3. Fall 53
4. Redemption 69
5. Discerning Structure and Direction 87
Conclusion 115
POSTSCRIPT: Worldview Between Story and Mission 119
[last page is numbered 143]
INDEX
This book has no index.
PUBLISHER's ABSTRACT
IN PRINT FOR TWO DECADES and translated into eight languages, Albert Wolters's classic formulation of an integrated Christian worldview has been revised and expanded to reach new readers beyond the generation that has already benefited from this clear, concise proposal for transcending the false dichotomy between sacred and secular. Wolters begins by defining the nature and scope of a worldview, distinguishing it from philosophy and theology. He then outlines a Reformed analysis of the three basic categories in human history -- creation, fall, and redemption -- arguing that while the fall reaches into every corner of the world, Christians are called to participate in Christ's redemption of all creation. This TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY edition features a new concluding chapter, coauthored with Michael Goheen, that helpfully places the discussion of worldview in a broader narrative and missional context.
[START OF NEW RECORD]
Author(s): Nicholas
Wolterstorff
Editor(s):
Title: Until Justice and Peace Embrace
Subtitle:
Translator(s):
Place of publication: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Year of publication: 1983
Edition:
CONTENTS
Preface vii
Chapter I: World-Formative Christianity 3
Chapter II: The Modern World-System 23
Chapter III: Lima or Amsterdam: Liberation or Disclosure?42
Interlude I: For Justice in Shalom 69
Chapter IV: The Rich and the Poor 73
Chapter V: Nation Against Nation 99
Chapter VI: A City of Delight 126
Interlude II: Resistance 141
Chapter VII: Justice and Worship: The Tragedy of Liturgy in Protestantism 146
Chapter VIII: Theory and Praxis
Postscript 177
Notes 179
[last page is numbered 197]
INDEX
This book has no index.
PUBLISHER's ABSTRACT
How should a Christian insert himself or herself into the world's social order? How can he or she set goals and determine courses of action that are conducive to the establishment of a just and peaceful social order? Nicholas Wolterstorff here addresses these difficult questions in terms of the Biblical concept of shalom. Arguing for the general perspective of "world-formative Christianity," he begins by describing the version of that perspective which emerged among the early Calvinists of England and the continent. Convinced that we cannot act responsibly and effectively unless we understand the structure and dynamics of our modern social order, Wolterstorff next offers an introductory analysis of the "modern world-system." He then discusses two contemporary versions of world-formative Christianity -- that of the South American liberation theologians and that of the Amsterdam neo-Calvinists. The book's central chapters address three of the most fundamental issues of the modern world: mass poverty, nationalism, and urban ugliness. Finally Wolterstorff argues for the vital relationship that must exist between liturgy and social action in the life of the Christian; he concludes with a discussion of the relation of theory to practice.
[START OF NEW RECORD]
Author(s): Lambert Paul
Zuidervaart
Editor(s):
Title: REFRACTIONS
Subtitle: TRUTH IN ADORNO'S AESTHETIC THEORY
Translator(s):
Place of publication: Toronto
Publisher: Printed by UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Year of publication: 1981
This book is a Free University of Amsterdam dissertation
Edition:
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
REFERENCES x
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1. Third Reflections 2
hermeneutic goals (2) --historiographic matrix (3) --metacritical judgments (5)
1.2. A Dialectical Phenomenology of Modern Art 7
constellation (7) --contradiction (10) --paradox (12) --determinate negation (15)
1.3. The Double Character of Art 18
formal law and fetishism (18) --culture and ideology (19) --social truth-substance (20) --cognitive functions in society (22) --triple mediation (24)
Notes 25
CHAPTER 2. ARTISTIC PRODUCTION AS SOCIO-CULTURAL LABOR 33
2.1. Artistic Material 33
musical material: concept and problems (33) --determination and spontaneity (33) --sedimented spirit (35)
2.2. Social Labor and Cultural Commodities 37
social labor of spirit (37) --ambiguous absolute (39) --exchange, labor, and commodities (39) --fetish-character of music (41) --shifts in capitalism and ideology (42)
2.3. Domination in Exchange 45
critique of domination (45) --proletarian humanity (47) --ambiguous abstraction (49)
2.4. Musical and Material Production 51
mediation and change (5l) --the division of labor (52) --antagonism in production (54) --the unity of production (56) --musical mode of production (59) --social possibility of spontaneity (61)
2.5. Material Artistry 62
sensation, suffering, and spontaneity (62) --artistry as monadic praxis (64) --spirit as alienated nature (65) --artistic objectification (66) --mimetic expression (67) --corrective alienation of alienation (69) --objective creativity and productive experience (70) --materialization of truth (72) --the subject of art (75) --the object of artistic labor (76)
Notes
CHAPTER 3. ART AS KNOWLEDGE AND PRAXIS 93
the concept of nonconceptual knowledge (93)
3.1. Dialectic of Content and Form 94
dialectical substance (94) --artistic content (95) --musical language (97) --musical sense (98) --formal critique and rescue (99) --dialectic of knowledge (101) --substantial dialectic (104)
3.2. Artistic Phenomena and Cognitive Praxis 105
purposeless purposiveness (105) --substance, function, and effect (l08) --adequate experience of artistic phenomena (109) --the enigma and its interpretation (111) --aesthetic theory (113) --disclosure of truth (115)
Notes
CHAPTER 4. AMBIGUITIES OF AUTHENTIC CULTURE 127
4.1. Culture after Auschwitz 127
Endgame (128) --organon (129) --conceiving the inconceivable (130)
4.2. Human Autonomy and Objective Sense 131
dialectic of autonomy (13l) --making sense of "sense" (132) --the slightest difference (133)
4.3. Hope for Reconciliation 137
culture and suffering (137) --self-ref1ection of enlightenment (138) --reconciliation and synthesis (140) --rescue of natural beauty (141) --critique of classicism (142) --conci1iatory domination (143)
4.4. The Sense of Authentic Art 145
crisis of sense (145) --authentic negation of sense (146) --autonomy, sense, and authenticity (148)
Notes 149
CHAPTER 5. A SEMBLANCE OF TRUTH 155
5.1. Paradoxes of Semblance 155
illusory revelation (155) --mimetic after-image (157) --reified process and artifactual phenomenon (159) --historical image (160) --apparition of possibility (161) --hieroglyphic script (163) --contradictory spirit (165)
5.2. The Saving of Semblance 167
dilemmas of modern art (168) --the need for art (169) --double paradox (170) --boundary concept (172) --materialization (173) --dialectica1 suspension (175) --mediated transcendence (177) --broken promise (179)
Notes 183
CHAPTER 6. CONVERGENCE 189
6.1. Negative Dialectic in Philosophical Aesthetics 189
from Kant to Adorno (189) --subject and object (191) --critique and criteria (191) --limits and liberation (192)
6.2. Philosophy, Art, and Social Praxis 194
dialectic of nonidentity (194) --philosophic rescue of artistic knowledge (196) --true praxis (197) --the social mediation of art (198)
6.3. Truth in Adorno's Aesthetic Theory 199
experience and theory in aesthetics (199) --art, theory, and society (201) --philosophic truth (202) --languages of suffering (203)
Notes 205
SUMMARY 207
BIBLIOGRAPHY 213
[last page is numbered 227]
INDEX
This book has no index.
SUMMARY
[page 207]
How does one report on a philosophy that claims philosophy essentially is not reportable? This claim, made by Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969), is carried to an extreme in his posthumous aesthetics (1970). Aesthetic Theory is thoroughly paradoxical. Modern art and Adorno's philosophy work together to utter the unutterable. Though communicated, the incommunicable is not made generally communicable. To report on Aesthetic Theory is to disclose artistic and theoretical phenomena that together enclose what is generally incommunicable. In this dissertation, the disclosure moves toward "third reflections" on Adorno's contributions to philosophical aesthetics today.
Chapter 1 uncovers tendencies in Adorno's philosophical phenomenology of modern art. Modern art interacts with Adorno's Hegelian but negative dialectics. At the same time, Aesthetic Theory continues Marx's "phenomenology of anti-spirit." For Adorno, art has a double character that itself is doubled. Artistic autonomy is ideological but is more than merely ideological, and the social character of art is both functional and substantial.
To have this double character, art must be socially mediated. Three phases in the mediation of art and society are previewed at the end of Chapter 1 and developed in the next two chapters. 1) As a product, an artwork arises from the general process of social production. The productive mediation of art and society is predominantly technical. 2) As an entity, an artwork embodies a social dialectic between productive forces and relations of production. Inside the artwork is a monadological mediation of art and society.
3) As an aesthetic phenomenon, an artwork presents a spirit whose social truth can be decided through philosophical interpretation. The phenomenal mediation of art and society occurs by way of two modes of knowledge. One mode is mainly conceptual, the other is mainly nonconceptual.
Adorno's conception of artistic material has deepened our understanding of productive mediation. Chapter 2 introduces some problems in Adorno's conception and concludes with his theory of artistry. The transition to artistry occurs via a double movement through art and society.
[page 208]
First Adorno's description of art as a "product of the social labor of spirit" is developed into a twentieth-century dialectic within cultural ideology. Then the dialectic within ideology prompts a closer look at Adorno's social theory.
Problems in Adorno's conception of artistic material turn out to be an apparent impasse in his social theory and in contemporary society. If society as a whole is untrue, and if society dominates its own members, then how are spontaneity and critical consciousness still possible within art and society? Spontaneity and critical consciousness are required, Adorno claims, if human beings are to be liberated within the society they have made. But it seems that no historical subject retains both spontaneity and an awareness of the need for radical social change. In the apparent absence of a proletarian class and of a critical public, Aesthetic Theory is driven to discover how authentic modern art can encourage true praxis, through which theory could help change the structure of a false society.
Art could not assist if artists themselves lacked spontaneity and ignored society. Adorno's theory ties artistic spontaneity and critique to a technical dialectic. Social truth can be "materialized" in the dialectic between artistic material and material artistry. By virtue of this dialectic, artworks can arise from society, oppose it, expose its fundamental antagonisms, and propose modes of conduct that could transform society.
Art could not transcend the social impasse, however, if artworks lacked artistic integrity and had no effect in society. Chapter 3 presents Adorno's argument that modern art can be both integral and effectual even though it too is caught in a social dilemma. Correcting both "art for art's sake" and orthodox Marxism, Adorno understands artworks to be monadological modes of knowing society as well as unpractical modes of social praxis.
Once Adorno's innovative understanding has been grasped, we may ask whether philosophy has become the most crucial mediator of art for society. If philosophy has become this mediator, then have not art and philosophy run into the same social impasse? No matter whether philosophy and art surrender their autonomy or maintain it, they can be made harmless by society and ignored by manipulated consciousness. A circle seems to provide the only way out. Autonomous art can become an effectual praxis by calling for knowledge that lets art become socially effectual, but only a philosophy that seems socially isolated is fully capable
[page 209]
of this kind of knowledge. In a false society, art needs philosophy just as much as philosophy needs art, but society rejects both art and philosophy.
Nevertheless, society needs art and philosophy. If their truth cannot be fully actualized in contemporary society, however, then what keeps that truth from vanishing into a utopian ideology? According to Chapter 4, ambiguities arise when autonomous culture recognizes its own impotent complicity toward a false society but keeps hoping for something that cannot be achieved without autonomous culture.
For Adorno, hope means a resurrection of the flesh through a reconciliation of culture with nature. Adorno hopes for sensuous happiness, the mitigation of suffering, and the respecting of qualitative individuality. This hope can be realized only if society gets rid of its capitalist principle of dominative exchange. Unless this happens, there will be no escaping the dialectic between human autonomy, which has eliminated the objective sense driving it, and objective sense, which can no longer be imagined apart from a social change accomplished by autonomous humans.
Samuel Beckett's Endgame expresses this dialectic in its extreme consequences. Endgame also expresses the need for social change, according to Adorno. By carrying the expression of absurdity into a determinate negation of artistic sense, Endgame has achieved a negative sense that makes sense out of an absurdly rationalized world. Endgame and artworks like it serve as an organon for a philosophy that aims to be a critical comprehending of its own time.
To be rid of the principle that makes life senseless, society needs to be confronted with its absurdity and pointed to a utopia that is concretely possible because of the level of productive forces. If art and philosophy can perform these tasks, then, despite their complicity and impotence, they remain legitimate and socially necessary. For Adorno, authentic culture today must be consistently negative in the face of a possible reconciliation that dominative exchange prevents.
But even the most authentic modern art remains a semblance. In Chapter 5, artistic semblance is seen to be doubly illusory and doubly revelatory. Artistic sense detracts from social absurdity and feigns a unity that cannot be fully achieved so long as society remains antagonistic. At the same time, artistic semblance makes apparent the antagonistic essence of social reality and, by condemning this
[page 210]
Wesen as an Unwesen, posits the possibility of an essentially different reality.
There are antinomies, however, in a double illusion that is doubly revelatory. In the first place, there is a contradiction between artistically sublating (aufheben) external reality and imitating the objective ideal inside an emergent artwork. The contradiction is inevitable because external sublation is a precondition of artworks, whereas internal imitation is their law. The contradiction is necessary because it prevents artworks from becoming mere ideology or posing as the truth. But artworks do pose as autonomous entities. Thus, in the second place, their essential reification conflicts with their character as processes of production or reception. In the third place, received artistic phenomena are cumulative images of present reality that oppose themselves as instantaneous apparitions of another reality. This opposition is required: the instant of apparition is mediated by the process of the image, and the image acquires its full significance only in the instant of apparition. Inside phenomenal artworks Adorno finds preparations for the revolution that would resolve the tensions between an antagonistic society and the possibility of perpetual peace.
Because those tensions have not actually been resolved, the antinomies of semblance become doubly paradoxical. For Adorno, the spirit of artworks is a continual contradiction This contradictory spirit is immanent to an artwork, yet spirit can truly be spirit only if, in contradiction, it transcends the artwork. Thus the spirit of an artwork can simultaneously be semblance and more than semblance. If such simultaneity is paradoxical, then so is a philosophical effort to save this spirit from its illusoriness. Adorno's philosophy recognizes itself as a socially necessary semblance. Yet his aesthetic theory tries to rescue artistic semblance and refuses to rest with a merely semblantic rescue.
Adorno's philosophy of art is propelled by the desire to save the spiritual substance in particular artworks. This substance can be the semblance of a truth that human beings have not made. Adorno has a strong but negative concept of the truth-substance (Wahrheitsgehalt) of art. He defines truth-substance in terms of what it is not. Everything that truth-substance is not, however, is needed in order to find out what the truth-substance of an artwork is. To become aware of artistic truth, one must become conscious
[page 211]
of the entire process that mediates truth in an artwork. Only philosophy seems able to comprehend both the process and truth.
Recalling Chapters 2 and 3, we can find three ways to characterize the artistic mediation of truth. From the side of production, this mediation can be called a materialization of consciousness. If consciousness is correct, its materialization turns into artistic truth-substance. In an artwork as an entity, artistic mediation is a dialectic of content and form. Truth-substance amounts to the dialectical suspension of this dialectic. In an artwork as a phenomenal object, the process of mediation is a contradictory, semblantic spirit. Truth-substance is this spirit's transcendence, a transcendence mediated by both the artwork and philosophy.
The truth-substance of artworks is located in a reciprocation between philosophical concepts and artistic phenomena. But artistic substance remains a semblance, even if it is a semblance of truth. Even the most authentic artworks can be feigning truth: they testify for the possibility of the possible but do not really actualize this possibility. Philosophy is needed in order to determine whether artistic substance is indeed a semblance of truth. Adorno's concept of truth-substance forces us to question both philosophy's decisive claim to know truth and the hope that motivates this claim. The end of Chapter 5 raises these questions by connecting Adorno's "metaphysics of art" with the "meditations on metaphysics" in Negative Dialectics.
In truth-substance philosophy and art converge. Artistic semblance is saved by a philosophy that might lose hope if artworks no longer allowed truth-substance to be disclosed. Adorno's philosophy tries to ensure the participation of artistic semblance in a truth that is to be actualized in society. Art participates in truth by negating extant falsity and by expressing what has been falsely negated. Through negation and expression, artistic semblance anticipates a true society in which damaged life would be restored. In today's society, however, philosophy must negate artistic negation and rearticulate what art expresses. Truth would be falsified if it were merely conceptualized, but truth would be impotent if it could not be conceptually communicated. Art needs a philosophy that needs art. While justifying autonomous art in a false society, Adorno's philosophy of art justifies itself as an aesthetic theory.
Since philosophy and art cannot exempt themselves from an
[page 212]
untrue society, Adorno's conception of truth implies that the untrue totality is not totally untrue. If the untrue totality is not totally untrue, then we may ask whether modern art and Adorno's philosophy have overlooked truth that might be unfolding outside their confines.
The contributions and difficulties of Aesthetic Theory make it highly significant, according to Chapter 6. Many of these contributions and difficulties arise from the way in which Adorno's philosophy thinks against thought and dedicates itself to its object. Aesthetic Theory has helped make possible an aesthetics that recognizes both the object's integrity and the subject's initiative. Adorno has made us aware of theory's limits and its social responsibilities. But despite Adorno's intent to honor the object in its qualitative individuality, he sometimes tends to treat art as a theoretical mode of knowledge and to install philosophy as a temporpry savior of art's cognitive contributions.
Adorno has shown us that to expect philosophy and art to be "useful" is to measure them according to criteria that they must challenge. At the same time, his theory seems to make art and philosophy the only. avenues through which society can truly be conscious of its untruth, and Adorno tends to measure social praxis according to artistic and theoretical criteria. This tendency is coupled with Adorno's incomparable grasp on the social substance of autonomous art.. But that grasp is not sufficient for a differentiated analysis of art's institutional settings and its actual functions in society.
The truth in Aesthetic Theory culminates in its conception of truth. This conception belongs to a dialectical phenomenology of modern art. Adorno has helped bring philosophy and art up to date with each other and with a critical consciousness of contemporary society. At the same time, Adorno has correctly refused either to confine truth to analysis and theory or to define truth solely in terms of social praxis and individual morality. His conception of truth does justice both to art and to truth.
Adorno has said the need to express suffering is a condition of all truth. Like the best modern art, Adorno's philosophy meets this condition. Although Adorno's philosophy seems to claim a decisive knowledge of the truth about untruth, his attention to suffering can change our conceptions about truth and about the tasks of philosophy and aesthetics. Adorno's theory confronts us with philosophy's perplexing position in the middle of damaged life, whose restoration is our mutual task, and in a misdirected society, whose redirection is our mutual responsibility.
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