Contents Editor�s Foreword LECTURE ONE Prejudices against the dialectic – the double character of the dialectic – the dialectic as method of articulating the Ideas (Plato) – the order of concepts expresses the order of things – the vital nerve of the dialectic – the dialectic as necessary �exaggeration� – the positivist element of the dialectic LECTURE TWO �The movement of the concept� (Hegel) – the dialectic hypostasizes the identity of thought and being – Hegel�s dialectic as the union of identity and non-identity – non-identity in the process, identity in the result – introduction to the dialectic as a model of dialectic – the movement of the concept is not sophistical – the movement of the concept as the path of philosophical science – the object of knowledge is internally dynamic – the movement of the object is not arbitrary – the metaphysical concept of truth Ð the inevitable reification of truth – historical movement is not the movement of being but is concrete Ð the dialectic is not a philosophy of foundations – the temporal core of dialectic LECTURE THREE Critique of prima philosophia – matter no first principle either Ð Hegel�s dialectic also a preservation of first philosophy – all determination implies mediation – the movement of the concept is no external contribution of thought – a sophistical displacement of meaning in Gehlen – the whole is the true solely as the result of all mediations Ð the idea of an open dialectic – the whole is neither a pantheistic totality of nature nor a seamless unity – �the truth is essentially result� – individual phenomena only intelligible in terms of the whole – recourse to the whole is mediated through the self-movement of the individual – the concept of the whole as already given LECTURE FOUR The traditional concept of system: derivation of the whole from one fundamental principle – the dialectical concept of system – determinate negation – contradiction in Kant – contradiction in Hegel – antithesis arises from thesis – the measure of the absolute lies in objectivity – dialectical criticism is necessarily immanent – refutation of a thought as development of the thought – the emergent absolute is essentially temporal – the interaction of theory and practice - the truth as result is concrete LECTURE FIVE The charge of universal rationalization – dialectical thought is not rationalistic thought – the dispute over rationalism – conceptual thought is indispensable – the truth moment of irrationalism – the irrational as a moment of ratio – suffering and happiness are immanent to thought – being in itself, being for itself, being in and for itself – relationship of thesis, antithesis, synthesis – dialectical method concerns the contradictory life of the object – the dialectic not immune to ideological abuse LECTURE SIX Dialectical method not a formal conceptual schema – the objectivation of truth – every true thought becomes untrue once it is isolated – the triadic schema irrelevant in Hegel – the charge of universalizing contradiction – contradiction is not a first principle – Hegel�s critique of Kant�s transcendental dialectic LECTURE SEVEN Hegel�s dialectical principle of development is a principle of real being – dialectic in Kant is only the negative side of the critique of reason – the positive moment of the critique of reason – reflection as the principle of the speculative self-knowledge of reason – knowledge of knowledge also the principle of substantive knowledge – dialectic and formal logic – the �example� in Hegel – logical form of the judgement and the �emphatic concept� – dialectical contradiction expresses the disparity of thought and world LECTURE EIGHT Dialectic names the negative state of the world by its proper name – contradiction not only in thought, but is objective Ð contradiction as principle of diremption is also the principle of unity – dialectic as union of the a priori and experience – the objective order of the world also conceptual in character – coercive character of dialectic – the systematic claim of dialectic – dialectical contradiction in Hegel�s political philosophy – dialectical system not a seamless deductive structure – the concept of experience in Hegel LECTURE NINE The paradoxical task of knowledge: identifying the non-identical – identity of thought and being (Hegel) – non-identity and contradiction not resolvable in thought (Marx) – the materialist priority of being over consciousness is problematic – the whole and the parts presuppose one another – the materialist critique of literature cannot proceed from unmediated instances of particular experience (Benjamin) – dialectical materialism is not vulgar materialism – the charge of metaphysically hypostasizing the totality (Weber) LECTURE TEN Knowledge of the social whole precedes individual experience – prior awareness of the whole not unique to human beings – rejection of Hegel�s attempted restoration of immediate experience – the congruence of whole and parts as result of a process – intuition – theory neither static nor complete – the danger of a dogmatic ossification of dialectic (Lukács) – tracing knowledge back to origins is undialectica – survival of obsolete philosophical notions in the individual sciences LECTURE ELEVEN Terminological remarks on the concept of role – neither whole nor part enjoys priority over the other – metaphysics as science of the ultimate ground – origin as merel beginning (Hegel) – the ontological appropriation of Hegel – �abstract� in Hegel – the dialectic not a dynamic ontology – �being� in Hegel – philosophy of immediacy as regress to mythology – dialectic and positivism – the �natural� appearance of a reified world LECTURE TWELVE Affinity between dialectic and positivism – the constitutive distinction of essence and appearance – dialectic exposes the apparent immediacy of ultimate givens – the Darmstadt investigation – motivational analysis in industrial sociology – opinion research, empirical and critical – transition from positivism to dialectic – contradiction in the given as the principle of dialectical movement LECTURE THIRTEEN Scientific method in Descartes – rationalism as the will to control nature – the postulate of self-evidence (Descartes) – a hermeneutic intervention – self-evidence as a form of ultimate metaphysical grounding – evidence of sense-perception already mediated – the order of knowing, the order of the known – experience and conceptuality – emphasis on analysis destroys the crucial interest of knowing – philosophy of nature and natural science – philosophy always bound to the material knowledge of the sciences LECTURE FOURTEEN Analysis alone yields no knowledge – the universal concretized through the particular – attitude of dialectic to the concept of development – the family not merely a remnant – society not an organism, but antagonistic in character – knowledge as a continuity of steps – the unity of society constituted by discontinuity – the presumption of continuity is merely affirmative – �enthusiasm� a necessary moment of knowledge – the positive aspect of continuity LECTURE FIFTEEN The coercive character of logic – immanent and transcendent critique – mobility of thought is not an evasion – contradictions are constitutive – against relativism – dialectical cognition of the particular object requires explicit self-reflection – the charge of groundlessness – a sociological excursus on the mobility of thought – the substance of philosophy lies in the vital source of its concepts – arrested movement in Heraclitus and Hegel LECTURE SIXTEEN The dogmatic character of the axiom of completeness – the fulfilment of this demand in German Idealism – dialectical clarification of the objective by recourse to models – �ideal types� in Weber – �intuition of essences� in Husserl – thinking in models – labyrinthine communication in literary works (Kafka, Balzac, von Doderer) – historical transformations in the concept of system LECTURE SEVENTEEN Consciousness as unifying principle in the modern conception of system – critique and renewal of the concept of system in 19th century – contemporary appeal of the concept of system – the spectral afterlife of the concept of system – the need for system and the closed experience of the world – no categorical continuum amongst the particular sciences (Talcott Parsons) – apologetic character of the functionalist concept of system – �frame of reference� – the logic of science and debased metaphysics complement one another today – dialectic a beneficent anachronism LECTURE EIGHTEEN Dichotomous consciousness – dialectical mediation not a matter of Both/And – mediation as the critical self-reflection of extremes – role of Either/Or in the social sciences – dialectic and the negative concept of truth – values are neither transcendent nor merely relative – the criterion of truth is immanent to the object – the dialectic is not a matter of �standpoints� – dialectic furnishes no recipes – definition as logical form LECTURE NINETEEN The limits of deixis and definition with respect to the concept – the concept is not a tabula rasa – concept and constellation – life and fluidity of the concept as the object of dialectic – verbal definitions and philosophical definitions – philosophical definition requires prior knowledge of the matter in question – it extends concepts into force fields – abbreviation as specific feature of philosophical definition – operational definitions in the particular sciences – forfeiting the synthetic moment of knowledge – operational definitions and their field of application – dialectic as a critical mediation of realism and nominalism – truth moment of the phenomenological analysis of meaning LECTURE TWENTY Dialectical articulation of concepts as constellation and configuration – the order of ideas in Plato as an expression of the social division of labour – the exposition of the matter in question not external – exposition guarantees the objectivity of knowledge – contradiction in the identifying judgement as starting point of dialectic – truth and untruth of the logical judgement form – subjective synthesis and objective reference in the judgement – an immanent critique of logic – the phenomenological critique of inference – surrender of logical subordination as index of dialectical thought – is knowledge possible without assuming the identity of subject and object? Adorno�s Lecture Notes Abbreviations Editor�s Notes Index