dual layered time [personal notes on philosopher theodor w. adorno in the '50s]

Jürg en Habe rmas Log os 2.4 – Fall 2 003 Dua l- La y e red Ti me Pe rsonal notes on philosophe r The odor W. Adorno in the’50s b y Jür g en Habe r mas hat seems to be trivial in retrospect could not be taken for granted by the tim e I j oi ned theI ns ti tut fü r So zi alfo rsc hung (I ns titute for Soc ial Research); that its reputation would be more dependent on Adorno’s incessant productivity, which was only then heading for its climax, rather than on the success of the empirical research with which the institute was suppose d to le g i tim i ze itself i n the first pla ce. Al though he wa s the ne rve- center of the institute, Adorno could not handle administrative power. Rather, he constituted the pas sive center of a complex area of te nsion. When I a rrived i n 19 56 there were symmetrical differences between Max Horkheimer, Gretel Adorno and Ludwig von Frie dburg tha t were defi ne d by the fa ct that their respective expecta tions towa rd Adorno we re thwa rt ed. Frie de burg ha d a l e gitim a te i ntere st in a content-ba se d coope ration with Adorno, which would lead to a more theoretical orientation of the em pi rical rese a rch. Se pa rate from thi s Gretel wante d the persona l succe ss of the philosopher both as a scientist and writer, which Adorno actually ga i ne d only posthum ously. And for Horkhe i m e r it was Adorno’s ta sk to e sta bli sh a public pre stig e for the instit ute through politica l l y plea sa nt an d a ca de m ica l l y i m press i ve studies but without denying their common philosophical intentions and without harming the non-conformist character—the important image in terms of attracting students. To m e Ad orn o h a d a d iffe rent s ig n ifi cance: t im e h a d a d ua l- la y ere d qua l i ty in the institute. During the fif tie s the re w a s proba bly no othe r place in the whole Federal Republic, in which the intellectual twenties were so explicitly present. Certainly, the old staff members of the institute l ike He rbert Marcuse , Le o Löwe ntha l a nd Erich Fromm, also Franz Ne um a nn a nd Ot to K i rchheime r ha d re m a i ne d in Am e rica . Howe ver, a l so nam e s l i ke Benjam i n and S cholem, K raca ue r a nd Bl och, Brecht and Luká cs, Alf red Sohn-Rethe l a nd Norbe rt El i a s, of course the na m e s of

dual layered time [personal notes on philosopher theodor w. adorno in the '50s]

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