Eurorean Pessrecives, A Series in Soil Thought and Cultara Critic ference P Kitna, Eitor AnropeonPespetves prev Engl wasn of koks hy lexng Eon ‘dines Wik oth lc ond usindingentnprary wrk th serene ape the maori tonal vdertoning Julie Keio “Thelor W. Adorno id Win tor Jaca eGo ‘loin akira Jal Krsna Pe Beare ee Vide Naat Hg Bal Giles Deeee ond ali Goat ao Hes Barer ‘Abin iktoost Fulintestvn habe Baier Kae with Giles Delnze Pere Vil-Naguet Nove lie ous Aer beth Roane Rone Gta Kel Over Peta Nor Cltine Fabre Vos ontoweri fou dayand soe sks of hs Strangers to Ouse ove ier le a2 Thetliiger Conroy ron Notebook We an? istry ond Memory emamberngin Von The Kos Bake Ta ond hme Again Hai ‘tons Without Naiman ‘TheFelof Cala Production ‘Aessins of Memory nays on he Dei of the Holouast ria te Geman ntligetsin What Phony? Sudlemes On he Moment of Acta Appearance TheDeertof he Mind ‘ew Malai of he Sou! 37:04 Morale deity Manin Heidegger a xtopean Ns Negotiation, 1972-1950 ‘Thee Hor, Memory. andthe Pert The Germans Wren ayeonagis Fred ond Las Iacques Lae: ifr Work Jaa rte letersi ‘Th Botte Kisteon Rls of Memory The Conran ofthe French Pa 1 Confit end Dssony, 2: Traditions, vo 3: Symbals ‘he Singular Beast fs Christin an the Pe Critical Models Interventions and Catchwords Theodor W. Adorno ‘Translated and with a Preface boy Henry W. Pickford ‘Columbia University Press. ew Yorka Aa 1990 -~ Morne grecalystnawige gato ner Natoes oma ato ‘rating Bs wok oli ivory Pos Pub Sie 133 Kew York Chihester, West Susex SSAA Ne rsche Made copyight © 196 by Subrhamp Verbs Fair to bn ‘Tie Kec Modell 2 copyright 1968 by Sbshanp Vesa Franko cohur FAM sa copyright © 1998 Columbia University Pee ‘Angered {Minty Cones Catling Publican Date ‘Aden Theo VE 13-199. Tenge Engh ciel nic nerenans and tebwode Theor W Adore ‘rll a ws pele by Henry W. Pod “m.ropenn preci Incas biographer ado No are veal iorydhceay,2-Seci lence Phibwes {Alor Teed 195-199 Sewer Engh TT li Serer HRIGATSIS. 1998 avon de or-3950 ° ctund ens of Calabi Uninet Pes bok ae printed on pers nddnblencfe popes ‘Panedn sh Ute Sen of Amerie rigs 7esas27 THEN EELLEGE LIBRARY Contents Prface Interventions Nine Critical Models Introduction Wy Stl Photophy Philosophy an Teachers Noteon Human Sen and Caltare ‘Those Tener Proogteto Television ‘Televsions esos Serual Taboos and Law Tey ‘The Meaning of Working Though he ast Opinion DelasionSeciety Catehwords Criss! Models 2 Iroroduction ‘Notes on Philosophical! Thinking Reazon nd Revelation Progress a 9 Pa a ” 8 oy us. ms Bs 7 1s 1”*% InTERYEytions: NINE CRITICAL MODELS “Thus eatchwoed that unintentionally recurs in many ofthe artiles suggest itel: rele conscionanesy, nto which the essays sect inter ‘ere whether it be inthe work ofthe human sence o in the atitade Of teachers towed philosophy, In the cliché of the twenties or the evil Survival of sexual boos inthe prefabricated word of eevision or in “unfettered opinion. Thisunity athe same tie preseribes he lint eon “Sousness is rtcaed where is merely the reflection ofthe resity that "The practical prospect thesefore are fimited, Whoever puts forward proposals easily makes biel into an accomplice. Talk of a “we” one ienies with already implies complicty with what is wrong and the ilynon shat goodwill and s readiness o engage in ommnalsction can tchieve something where every will i powerless and where the densi Cation with hommes de Bonne volonté ia digaised form of ei purist, Sitnde however that refrains for intervening kewis reinfures that rom which it tinorously reels Suck a coneradction cannot be seed by election, ts the cotitation of realty that dictates the ontradic- ‘ton Ate historia moanent, however here a praxis that would refer to the totality appears be Blocked everywhere even paltry reforms may presume more right than chey in fat ae due December 1962 Why Still Philosophy ‘To a question such as “why still philoso phy?"—for the formulation of which I myself am responsible although Ieselewantish tone does no escape me—avost people wil already guess {he answer They will expos tui of thought tha accamalatr all kinds of difficulties and reservations in onder to lee ultimately, more or les azn a nevertheless and he fsatn of wht it had rn chetorialy cast into doubt This alto famine ict sorespond ‘ox conformist and aplogetcatitude that characterizes itvelf ws postive tn reckons sn advance om consent. And indecd perhaps nothing better fan be expected from someone whose obits eo teach philosophy, whose bourgeois existence depends om it continued survival and who under- since his own immediate interests ns soon a he contests i All tht notwithstanding Ihave some right to rase the question forthe simple reason that Lam not ata ure of the answer. “Anyone wh defends a cause dcmed absoete and superfine by the spirit ofthe age places himself in the mort dindvantageous positon. Hie arguments sound halfheared. "Yeshua..." “Consider, however..." he sa as though tying to talk his audience into something they don't want Anyone wine doesn't want to be dissuaded from philosophy mst take this misfortune into acount. He rout know that pulosophy is 00 longer applicable to the techniques fr mastering one's fe—technigues in both the literal and figurative sensos—with which philosophy was6 LWSTERYESTIONS: NINE CEETICAL MODELS once 0 closely entwined, And philosophy a longer offers mim of sCitcleaton beyond these techniques was the ave daring the ro ov Tegel when fr ew shore decades the very sal ds of German Strellenals commune in their colleive pllosophcl language oughly sine the dest of Kant phloophy has mae elf suspect Tecate of ts dpaty wich the postive asenr cope the natural Sener and twos the at iin in pblcaareners 9 succumb © thecrst ofthe humanistic conepo cure abou whic Teed nosy ‘prem dee The Kain and Hegel revival whore tiles alone Ry seve the lense ther progran have ot anged esi atin omch nally inthe geereltendeny toward pealizaton, pi Iosphy too ha erased elf as apecalzed dpi one puted tal pete omen Inso ding pnp bs denied own consi then tt lac da oy he rf lized Knowledge. tthe same ie by abstaing om all finite Cooter wheter mig Sey eaten rut Being yond beings philosophy declared ts barry rearing onerete scl gsls Tobe sre paso thereby rely rated a roses ta slags entamoc 4 own tor. More and more Fas were snatched away fem and tantormal vo sens Sarcely ha any other cole bo bose her ence elo trinumeale tlre endave whisk a such lea cones with what Trane bea non-priclrired purat Neweonn ys wos all tale philosophy, Modes scene consciousness wold se inthis an Stet elt vsti of to eae epch of Grek spclasion wen Sound explain of tare ard subte metaphyies were sll inepse ‘aby imervowen ia the nae ofthe evens of age Tis why some ‘clr begs have poled tha ich sche themes conte he ly rhlowophy and hoe tne restore them, Br the consciousness Sefenng fn the fmured soeof he word and conn pet ty ot fon epoca he ery cones oe {ok for iva Therfre must crab pote own Pi moral nguage? Restrain tft pilose a 6 ey ‘creel hilo hast rose elf from te shat of clare nd th brcadabe of workvews It slo shold nat agin hts Sled workin epstemogal theory oF whatever ele pies itl on ieingrecar otc plewgty Yea plop fosveringall tha sn teen remy tle with the dominant con Scoumons Nothing le rset above the icon of plogetio Phi Tnsophy th sais fe wn intention, and does not chishy skip En asonm istry rhe rel oe has bled a he esirance atte common pt of aay and what hey eve gat he ‘Stcton of what Pappene vse ne Why Sul Philosophy p ven the grates achievement of philosophical speclation to date, that of Hegel [sno langer binding Anyone whom public opinion hae ‘once categorize asa dalectcan and aoane who in ny way bass pub Iielfe can escape being clasifed mast indicate host he distinguishes ‘imself fom Hegel Iris not atl e difference of individual eoneton, Rather the dilference i demanded by che movernen ofthe subject mat- ter itself, and it wes noone less than Hegel himself who demanded that thought abandon izelf othe subject mater without reservation Tad tional philosophy’ daim to totality, culminating in the thsi hat the reals tational is indistingushable from apologetic? But this thesis has become absurd philosophy that would sil set itself up as ot asa system, would become a delusional system. Ye if philosophy senounass the dei to twality and ao longer aims to develop out of islf the whole that should be the rut, chen it comes int conic with ts entize teaiton. This the price it must pay fr the fac that, once cured of ts ‘own delusional systeny it denounces the delusional system of reality. No Tonge i then self-suficent, stringent nerwork of argumentative Justification. The ste of philosophy in society, which philosophy itself Should serainize rather than deny, coresponds co is own desperate state: the necesty of formulating what nowadays under he sil of the theo! ie sre being recuperated by the machinery. Afer every thing the only responsible philosophy is one chat n longer imagines i had the Absolue at its command indeed philcophy must forbid the thought oft inorder not to etay that thought, and othe same cme i mut no bargain away anything ofthe emphatic conept of ruth. This contradiction is philosophy’ element. It defines philosophy as negative Kent’ amos diam that he cial path isthe only one stiller ou belong to those propositions constituting philosophy chat proves itself because the propositions as Fagments, survive beyond the system tht omecived them. Admittedly the idea of erque itself hoarkens back to the philosophical ration that today les in ruins, While inthe mean lume the demain of every kindof knowledge hasbeen confiscated by the specislzed disciplines to sucha degree that philosophical thought fees terrorized and fears being refuted ws dletantim whenever it takes on specie content in reaction to this the concept of primordality hae tained an honorable sate does otmert The more tified the world ‘comes the thicker the vei ast upon netare, the more the think ‘weaving et veil nts aon chime ideology tobe mats, por tesperence. On the other hand ever since the eelebrated preSocratics toadtional philsophers have praciced ertique, Xenophanes, whore school the eurzene ant-eancepal concep of Being dates bak osro¥e ‘odemythologize the free of naar And Arise ntrn sw hoch the Platonic hypostatization of the consept of Being into an ie. In8 HeTERVENTIONS: NINE CRITICAL MODELS rmdernity, Desarss convicted the scale piloophy of eum Inere oiion ira dog, Libis rized empiri, an Kant “red ephilsopheso both Lenizand me a ner Hegel ced Kent phony and Marx in ton eicand Heel’, Fr al of these ‘Nake cue arnt never caving ht mo ooloy tty year age wold hive calle hel projec” Te ‘ovdocument pin ew cl be ped scot pscoral tute Rather te very existence lyin cgentangamentaton Tach of thovetiners found hi own seh in rtgue Cts alone, the uy ofthe problem andi arguenty not theadopson of recived he Ss asl the foundation oF what maybe consered the pce {tl ofthe ery files nthe progresive oni fsck “rig evr there pllwophers whose dcrne ine onthe tere Sea te timeless seqied ther temporal noes, heir store at ‘Conesnporarypilowphie ritgue is confrontd with two achols cf hough tat y eonetting the pt ofthe age noes oles exert Shinfluence beyond she walls the sademic preserve: They verge end tronethelss complement eachother Expselly inthe Ango-Sexon ‘Dunes lea poss, rgallyingarted bythe Vienne ie, ‘as gained gourd othe point of coming a vial monopoly. Many, fonsider tfc inthe sense of being the most igorove facly of fnllghteunens adequate othe so-called ge What- et cs not conform ft vlad to she statin of esideal meta physic irown unrecognized mythology on the terminology of those Wikre meting af a art. Opposd to his movement ae the Oto= Toga aprotces active above all nthe Gevounapaking counties. “Taestbol of Heidegger who inde ince spun follow ing che sled um har become ether verse othe word “ontalogy, "> srs hear theme hes wheres the French version, exer Talo, modied the onlogialsproach with eliphtenment motives tnd ple engagement, osm and omoloy are anathema to one ttorher,RuollCarap’ one of psi’ foremost representatives ins atocked Heidegger's theory Ande gute wrongly, or bing meat ingles Convery forthe ont of Heteggeran provenance po ‘vst thintng og of Being a profanaton ofthe authente qu tion The ong ae afraid of geting this Bands dy wth the ner ually existent which sin the pots hands ale Thus ITsal the moet surprising that he two discon once nat sen” tual pony, ar have chore tapi a thelr common enemy npo>= {ive ths pos witht saying bese metaphysics sentially an fevnds that which the cae ie not terated by pois, hose ‘ery name inet tsaderencet the pon, the extent the piven Wiy Sil Philosophy > lot Heidegger swell schooed at he inthe metaphysical radio, has tried emphatially w disssoiate hime from it With the name of metaphysis he baptizes the ehinking that Teast since Aristotle nt slreay in Plato, epartes Being [Sin] and beng [Seiendes the concept ‘nd what is concopeualized ane could, na langaage Heidegger rejected, tay: subject and object. According o Heidegger a thinking that analyzes differentiates destroys through reflecson what the words them- ‘elves say in shore, everything Hegel allel “the labor andthe exertion ‘ofthe conerpt” and equated with philosophy is for Heidegzer already the apostasy from philosophy and beyond repair beatae prefiguned in thenatareef Being tel, "hvough he historicity of Being" Inboth pos Java and Heidegger at least in is later work—specelation isthe tar- act of ettack. In Both cases the thought that autonamosy rises self hove the facts through interpreting them and that ennot be resaimed by them without leaving a surplus is condemned for being empty and van concept mongering? acomding to Heidegger, however inking in the sence it has roceved i occidental history, profoundly misees the teuth Forhim tac truth ian appearing intel» 2l-dslosing git rae sinking is noching other than he bit to perceive tix. Crype- «aly philology becomes a philosophical authority. This common aver- sion against metaphysics lessens the immediate sense af paradox when lone of Heidegger’ students working in Kiel, Walter Bricker, ecently attempted to combine positivism and the pulesophy of Beg by grant ing positivism the entire realm of existence and superimposing overt ‘ona higher plane, the doctrine of Gein, expressly vented a+ mythol- ‘ogy Being, in whose nme Heidegger’ philosophy increasingly concen ‘rates itef is for him—asa pure sell-presentation to pasive coms ‘est—just as immediate ust as independent of the mediation of the subject a the facts and the sensory data are fr the positivist. In both philosophical movements thinking borontes 2 nesteary evil and is broadly ciscreive. Thinking lose its element of sndependence. The utomemy of rearon vanishes: the par of reason that exces the subor- inate reflection upon and ajusement eo preegiven data. Wish i how ‘eves goesthe conception of fredom and, potently the ref determina- tion of human coviery this humane compunetions did not keep most ofthe postivists from going so faz they would have to demand that praxis adap self othe facts before which thinking is for them poter- fess simply an antipaton or dassifistio, valid in the face the only thing hoe count: that which simply i the case For Heidegger however. thinking would be the reveremtially canceptes passive hearkening 09 Being that aways omly speaks Being, without any right to cttigue and constrained t capitulate equally eloce everything that cn appeal totheshimmering mightinss of Being, Heidegger's faling in with the "Hokrerstat, Hitlers ender state, was no ace af oppotanism but eather a ‘consequence ofa philosophy that equated Being ané Fare. ‘pilosophy is still ecesay, ts eo only inthe way it hasbeen from time lmmemora critique, ae resistance t the expanding heteronomy, ‘ven f only at thoughts powerless attemp to remain its own master and to eanvice of untruth, by their own eter, both a febicated mythology finda conniving, resigned acquiescence on the other of untruc, Iti Incumbent upon pilorophyo¢ lng ast isnot prohibited it wasn the Christianized Aten of Inte antiquity, 1 provide a refuge for freedom [Nor that there jsany hope thst could break she political tendencies shat are throng freedom hroughour the world both from within and wih- ft and whove violence permeates th very fabric of philosophical atga- Inentation, Whatever takes place within she interior of the concept ways relies something ofthe movement of realty. Butif the wo het- fconomies are the untruth and this canbe convinlngly demonstrated, then this not only as «new link ¢o the dreary cain of philosophical movements bat also registers trace ofthe hope that unfreedory and “oppression —the evil whose malevolence reeires as lle philosophical roots does its exitencenonetheless may not have the lst word Such a eitgue would need to dein che two prevaling philosophies 25 Slated aspects of rath tat historically ws forced to diverge As litle to these two aspect can be glued together Sato a co-ed synthesis ‘nonetheless theyshovld be rllected upon individually. The eror in pos- stv tha tale standard of tur she contingent given divi ‘om f labor that between the scences and socal praxis as wel as tha ‘othis science ill and allows no theory that could revel the division ‘oF labor tobe itself derivative and mediated and thus sip it of ts false Suthority Fin the age of emancipation philosophy wanted to provide Fouraation for sence andi Tchte and Hegel interpreted philosophy a6 the ene end ony sence then the most general sructure derived fom the sence ite gained and soderally rigiifid proedure, wold con ane the philosophy of positivism, the mechanism fori own sell Tegitimation, ucla, tnpisingly,semshardly wo disturb the fanat- eso logical tdines Philosophy resigns by equating itself with what ‘ould fat rst be illuminated by philosophy. The existence of ence elle quelle just ast oscus within and amid al the inswffiiencies and aionaltes of the societal fabric, beoomes the citerion ofits own truth. With such reverence for refed realty, positivism is refed con- Sousness. Despite all ie hosiity toward mythology i freakes the Snvi-mythologial impulse of philrophy to smash through human ‘ade constructions end eur them to their man measure Why Stil Phiesophy a Fundamental ontology, however, blinds itself to the mediation not of| sh acl bof the oc. cups the knows sat hse ‘sseness—or whatover i ells the results of progressive sublimation it tppoves to te fac” of positivem—are sways alo results of thinking bjs pnt. Precisely the existence ofthe subject nd ts conditioned nos indicate a being that has not sprang whole out of Being: socetalzed individuals In the hurted sanctuary™ in which the philosophy of reprstnaion entrench itself against the profanity of mere fact aswell {uagsine concepts—which ae related to eachother in tha fot are sep- rate from and subsumed ander concept uniter—one encounters ‘aga the schism the harbingers of the indivisible think themeelves immune to. Theie word ate inevitably concep to the extent that hey ‘an be thought all bat the dotrine of Being would like ro bea think ing ail within the ambit of reste archaim, However jut ws concepts by their very meaning require a conent that fll them, and jas 95 Hegel's unparalled snaight she mere thought of identity requires aon sdeety from which aloe dente can be assered soo even the purest concepts depend on their Other iaumanenty, and not merely fron 3 polar duality Thinking tself of whichall concepts aes fonction cannot be imagined without the acaviey of someone taking ionplied inthe ‘word “thinkin” This reverse eaion already contains the element hat, ‘cording to the idealist tradition, must Sst be coneiutd hy the con” ‘apt and tha, according othe mythology of Being i together with the ‘concept an epipenomenon of thid element Without the determina tion by those two elements this thi thing would be wholly indeterm- rates jaa to be able to indicate it at all amount a defining i by means of the same clement that ae being so metdvocely denied Even the Kest- lan transcendental subject, whose legacy tranacendenal-ubjece ‘Being would lke to inherit as @ unity requires the manifolds mach 2, Jnversaly the manifold requires the uit of eason Independent of the contents thet eonatitte aunty the concept of unity elf remains unin tellgil and itis just as impossble to conjure away the race ofthe fac tual from those contents ai is © remove the dilfereace beeween the concept and the content it reguies. No unity, no matter how foetal, even if tbe pure logical unity can be conceived even aa a posdblicy ‘without that toward which i gestures; even the formal-logial Some- thing is the remnant ofthe materia that pure logic wis 50 proud of hay ing separated out However the weason fr what Guntber Anders called the peetido-concetion’ inthe thinking of Being, and consequently for cll he rau i propagates ethat claims ta be invilably pare of what t ‘ultimately is and from whose onereteness it likewise profits.” Ie cle~ brates its teiumph ina sear reat. es mythical ambiguity merelyamos the specie imbrcton of the este element of hough fom which can po one eal ee han condoned CSraouncs ever eu Dees bmg hl ane remain ataly Stulifereneed in te mythology of Beng, he embiguy prevents eng though were beyond ing wel concep anda Kant trl sy obtains ts nse races surreptnusy" Even the Srholg of Big by supposing the huzunparpton i he Tiger cnc on lng them, ied conecsnes Dut die [eating oer tan nein om she mein of what appears Sr et onshe eae of minting and meaton nfs al eels Dale ot» thd nanaie bu athe the “ee, by mee ofan immanent ei, to develop propia ‘Tinie beyond themselves and beyond the depos of hiking, SSP Caine nthe fr of he nated of on ata cne ‘Sst lcd own hatin namely what ee 22S untae phlnopy sosld be the Bing coms 2 scovtavt In wold tm fer been thornghy pres bythe ‘Peete f he sol erdera wo tat oowepoersevery dal $fatearealy any op eens bts sep ont fers ch seed repiduc slfincaay snd sy Wht pole have chen thom bys bundles parton whch hey thoes con ‘ean wlich thy ave skein all natu ‘iene tomes natu fo thon Reel eotcumes 1 pe Ey ne and rele ply nae Pozo nat SMe he Sele of the obvae ell te seblane of he sec. “Fenton of ilbophy and eins ley inscribed mein shennan of ees yy eto hgh {foam etlge, whch thought resembles by ty ata ‘Stace which te neq ofl red. Dt edom wa he {pal th stale of se der “nvlvnet” of ia aie mind in $ffaes ef gion, the indteuble or of sl-evidene ever sine Spina ren inthe el mee log the ator inageot an alate nich man beings wos aly be ee of every iindotblindoutorty This has wren ol The nvoeston af dene fis ground ue ofthe ence ay of the methods teen ee comply eee now cnet sure anionty Finishing te enced unde hot and leratingnthing Pen scat eke tun what bas been metodo ane toned Since and col the meu of soso hs dene ‘rele am instrament of heronomy The ona oan dee SSE Sonsgned othe comingeny of eae pers slated ae hy Sil Philosophy » in fac degraded nto pate about worldviews The philosophical critique to scentvinn whic conclave reat ach a eytem of shou s therfore nore walheeaning adversaries sue of bring bat rather the destusion of whats already destrtive. The iq ofthe turret pilooghies does ot pee forthe dappearance of pilrophy tor forks replacement hy separa iipines such a sil science inrerds boc formally and nately rose precy tht manner tf intelestal eed that has no plc in the Fegan pilesplial tmoverents A thinking that approaches ts objects openly gorau, Aon the bass of progrenive lady, slo ee toward object in the see tha i eae to ave rues prescribed ot by onan lovledge ets the qulntaence ofthe experience scumulted nt to he objects reads the vl wih which society conceals ther, nd per- ceive them ene Were phloophy to ea back the fear aed y the {ycanay of the prvaling philosophic] movement-—she onload tunis motto eink ayehing thai ot pute, andthe sdentitc itlaidaton att think nything thant connected othe corps ‘indngs ogni’ a scentily vad —then t woud becpabe of ‘scogisng wht tht ar probit what an onmaredconsGousnes face would be stent wpon. The “to the things theraclves"” thar plo ‘ophl phencmenology had dreamed of ike a emer who dese he's wring up! can only come tras fora philosophy that stops hoping scquie lnowiedge wth the magical stroke af ede inton,” and Instead shine through the aubjtieand objective medion without, weve conforming to the let pracy af ongenized method which sverand over grin fers phenomenolegcal movements ony ereso {eves homemade concepts inser oftheir longelfor hinge Hod not al pnt actions Boome deeply spect then one oul itgine that only aconscousnes both re and rected in sll woul be open to what tational pilwopy has abstracted by confusing ss with sis itinend tree Win onl hoy xin 2 the ruceniam of waton lithe potent fo a psophy hat could break the magi spel nos Nonetheless completely uncertain whether philosophy acon: septal acy of the inert mind rill the order ofthe day wether as fale behind what shold concepreslice—the tte of the world rosin toward catastrophe. It apeas tbe too lt or en templaion Whatever ie maniey abst isnt fro nye of comprehending Te abolition of philorophy wr forest more than a Inded years go The fc that inte East Dera! is prone be “Marss philosophy, though t were compute with Maca theory jst lke tht teres to the meson of Miri sno a ate dogma4 LNTERVENTIONS: NINE CRITICAL MODEES ls ths sh tle ha bce obacete, Mane Beleved tha MSY presen here apd so Bu nly sabornass could il nan inane ie ston Mens ee hea Mfr ae junto ta foe piso. whose tut canteen eerie pre here nd now can ee hel el Tune te lof seus is hey hat an nk sea wamed-ver calm bt ther mat nope eit ae ort eames ‘Why Sil Philosophy 5 tea gratuitous conceit. Something would already be achieved if pilosc- ry at ese oght ro brng peoples consciousness of themselves othe Fame state of nove that they have of nate instead of them ving Iie cavemen in tral their own knowledge of a emma in which the hardly sapent species hort makes helpless poof nthe face ofthis tadcand the undiminished insight igo sey’ laws of motion, pilso- py could hardly penne to air that it posts nt of elf something Lic postive meaning To thiseatent it makes common cause with pon tivom, even more with modern art, before whose phenomena most of ‘what pases today for philosophical thinking fail fo lack of any rea onahip losophy's em gait ideals, which haa been prockimed ad nauseam, did no intend wltant enlightenment but esg- ation. Thought has been intimated and no anger dares ase itsel, not ‘ven in fundamental ontology’ devoanal submisiveness to Being In itsoppsitio to such resignation, theresa momen of uth in idealism ‘Retlatol nen wun ty daft ofthe blind and degrading dependence of human beings upon materia Condon Spotieo moe ease than is etl edule os ‘oerete entity It wl ome to know what itis only when i stop inva dating el The ores of uch resistances the sole extron for pioso- phy today Iisa meconclable with reed consciousness as Parone Enthuiagm once was. Only the excess of this consciousness beyond the ‘Seta makesit possible to call the universally conditonedby i nghtul name. Philosophy desires peace with that Other being, thatthe afi {ve plosophtes degrade by praising and wdapsing temscves oi For ‘hose philosophies everything becomes functional even the conformity to what enn is for them a pretext fo subjugating it intellectually. But that exits doce not want tobe deformed Anything that has «funtion ‘in lready selbound within the Fancsional worl Only «thinking tat Faso a cary olson nner am ash whnow- ge is lck of Function and power can perhaps catch a gimpse of an Ser of he poms and the nonexistent, here harn enge and thing each would bein thee right pa Because philosophy i ond fornorhing isnot yetobsolete;pilsapy should not even invoke this nt ett blindly repeat its wrong sl asifation by eell-postng “This wrong mas pase down fom the de of phlosophieperet— tha pilrophy ithe vetednarerof ternal tah Thivien's exploded sy Hepes studing proposition tat posh tc ne som pehended in thought The requirement seemed 2 self-evident t hin {hat hed ot heat to ineneaceit aradefnition He wa the sco fn insight nto che temporal nice of rth, This wae connected for Fim with the confidence thot every sigan philosophy, by expressing6 INTERVENTIONS: NINE CRITICAL MODELS its own stage of consciousness ata necessary aspect of the rtaity athe fame time also exprewed the otnity. The fact that this confidence together withthe philesophy of ident isppointment lessens noe only the pathos of subeequent philosophies but also cheir standing, What for Hegel wae self-evident cannot posibly be claimed by the regnant philosophies rad. No long are they ther own ae com- prekended in thought. Ontology even makes x vitewe ost oft provin= UEibam.2” The faithfl counterpeine to this ttiude isthe helpless con~ “plea! poverty ofthe psiivits They've tailored the rules af the game Soha the teed consciousness of uninspired bright boys" en consider tel o be the cutting edge ofthe spirit ofthe age. However, they are merely ity symptom, and they disguise their deficiencies as the incor ‘pile vie of those who wil at have the wo! pulled over tei eyes. ‘Ax most both movements belong to the spirit ofthe age at one of regres ‘on, and Nietzsche's backworldsmen once again ave teraly become eewondsmen.® Against shetn philosophy must prove itself the most ivancel eoeciousnese—permened with the potential of what could be ‘Baferent—iue algo a match forthe powcr of regzesion, which t an tranacend ony after heving incaporated and comprehended it. When today’s philosophical arctan evades this requirement, which it srely eseives by olfeving ancient erath ar an als, an abuses progress, Shichi merely prevents by pretending eo have already overome i then these ae all just so many excues. No dialectic of progress sacs tolegismate en itll condition thor believes itself safe and sound ‘nly bemuse its orner has not yet ben infiltrated by the deployment of “hjcewny, with which even that eprtal condition self is incertwined nhc ensures that al apple to whats safe ad sound immediately feinfore the calamity” The self-righteous profundity that treats the progremive consconsnest en cmaille is ft, Relecions extending ‘yond the magia incastations of the ontoogists a wall as beyond the ‘ance de fits othe positivist are not tendy spits athe iol ‘ay of the yellowed lanpoons would have "rather they are motivated by those very facts ofthe matter that ontologiss as well as pesitvss prctend are the only things worthy of regard. As long as philosophy Feta the fier tae of the tite ofa book publishel by an old Kantian tore than thirty yeas ago, From the Philsophy Corner, wll main spring nore than the fun te detractors male of it" Not by avancular ‘nice wil transcend the seaderie industry. All wisdom has degener- ‘ed into wizened prudence” Thee i alo no avail o philosophy i she Tehavior of tht teacher who nthe prefasist era fel prompted et his ge aright and inspected Marlene Dietrich’ Blaer Engel 0 a8 t0 t= Sohne how ba things really were Fights ofthis sort into concrete Wi Sil Phioophy 9 experience conv plop of being the fare of presse the ison ‘thwhowe agent loopy isan conf elf out asec of ogo tl Nou 9 ebay on tag way sall woul note the worst ction fo ple now Fosfor wih lsh aan set hur cing no tration sod then tke «pion rather ft must untested, without ‘eure o some ment lug, experience! est do excl whats ‘Srode bythe who efor to forse the mani that every plsophy trust ally proce something postive Rieu’ fou re abst ‘nent moderne” ie nlter an serthee program nora progam ‘heres tsa catego mpetive of ploy Whatever wants no {ng do withthe eaectry of hisory bongs all she more ely tt "itor promises no salvation and fee the posbly of hae only theconcept whose movement lls history path athe very extreme