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Any capitulation to the practical is already an expression of resignation. Only a dogged apraxis, unfiltered by practical demands, is capable of truly resisting the totalizing state of late capitalism. Adorno transforms the latter into the only possibility against resignation. One is left with two options: either revise and redact the theoretical positions of critical theory in order to give it purchase on the given situation, or forgo such purchase in favor of veracity and theoretical insight. Practicality is suspect, a mark of thought potentially stunted by the totality of wrong life. Without disputing the accusation that he has chosen a path astray from any positive political program, Adorno reverses the value of practicality.
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Thought constrained by consideration of the practical represents a concession to the “wrong life” of the given historical moment: “within absolutized praxis, only reaction is possible and for this reason the reaction is false” (167).ĭrawing out the implications of this characterization of critical thought, Adorno turns his critics’ charge of “resignation” on its head, arguing that they, not he, are the ones who have resigned themselves to the status quo. On the other, he argues that only unconstrained, and often deeply impractical, thought can be considered truly critical. Citing the self-annihilation of the Soviet intelligentsia and the fascistic tendencies of the student movement, Adorno holds that the juggernaut of praxis will crush the subtleties of theory. On the one hand, Adorno argues that, as a matter of fact, the fusion of theory and praxis is highly unlikely to succeed. According to Adorno, theory and the theoretician are “sensitive and by no means unshakable instruments” (165), unfit to be subordinated to practical ends.Īdorno employs multiple styles of argumentation, interweaving both consequential and principled objections. Where they sought a fusion of theory and praxis that could guide a revolutionary politics, Adorno insisted upon the autonomy of theory and doubted the possibility of a liberatory politics. For both students and party theorists like Lukács, Adorno’s position on the relation of theory to praxis was simply untenable. This vision of critical thought remains vital today, despite the dated trappings of the theory-praxis debate and the limited interest in Adorno’s biography and the politics of postwar Germany.Īt the time of its publication, Adorno’s critics were many, but it is safe to assume that the radical student movement and Soviet intellectuals like György Lukács are Adorno’s primary addressees. Against the charge of apolitical “resignation,” Adorno articulates a defiant vision of critical thought beholden to no master. Adorno, responding directly to the Frankfurt School’s critics of the radical left, defends his refusal to translate Critical Theory into a program for political action. Originally delivered as a radio address in 1968, “Resignation” is, among other things, an important entry in the Marxist theory-praxis debate and a primary document in the history of Adorno’s troubled relationship with the radical student movements of postwar Germany. Reading “Resignation” today, it is immediately clear that the historical context is necessary to fully grasp the significance of Adorno’s words. Adorno’s “Resignation” from Telos 35 (Spring 1978). As an occasional feature on TELOSscope, we highlight a past Telos article whose critical insights continue to illuminate our thinking and challenge our assumptions.