Negative Dialectics

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Negative Dialectics (German: Negative Dialektik) is a 1966 book by the philosopher Theodor W. Adorno, in which he presents a critique of traditional Western philosophy and dialectical thinking. Adorno argues that the Enlightenment's emphasis on reason and progress has led to the domination of nature and the suppression of human individuality, and he develops the notion of negative dialectics as a critique of the positive, idealistic dialectics of Hegel and the Marxist dialectical materialism that grew out of it. Negative dialectics rejects the idea of a final synthesis or reconciliation, instead emphasizing the importance of maintaining the tension between contradictory elements and resisting the temptation to subsume particulars under abstract, totalizing concepts. Central to Adorno's argument is his reflection on the Holocaust and the systematic extermination of the Jews at Auschwitz, which he sees as a catastrophic failure of Enlightenment rationality and a profound challenge to the...

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