As an exile in America during the War, Theodor Adorno grew acquainted
with the fundamentals of empirical social research, something which
would shape the work he undertook in the early 1950s as co-director of
the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research. Yet he also became
increasingly aware of the ‘fetishism of method’ in sociology, and
saw the serious limitations of theoretical work based solely on
empirical findings.
In this lecture course given in 1964, Adorno develops a critique of
both sociology and philosophy, emphasizing that theoretical work
requires a specific mediation between the two disciplines. Adorno
advocates a philosophical approach to social theory that challenges
the drive towards uniformity and a lack of ambiguity, highlighting
instead the fruitfulness of experience, in all its messy complexity,
for critical social analysis. At the same time, he shows how
philosophy must also realise that it requires sociology if it is to
avoid falling for the old idealistic illusion that the totality of
real conditions can be grasped through thought alone.
Masterfully bringing together philosophical and empirical approaches
to an understanding of society, these lectures from one of the most
important social thinkers of the 20th century will be of great
interest to students and scholars in philosophy, sociology and the
social sciences generally.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780745694917
Publisert
2019
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
Polity
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter