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Adorno, Kant and Enlightenment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2020

Deborah Cook
Deborah Cook*
Affiliation:
University of Windsor, Ontario
*
dcook@uwindsor.ca
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Abstract

Theodor W. Adorno often made reference to Immanuel Kant’s famous essay on enlightenment. Although he denied that immaturity is self-incurred, the first section of this article will show that he adopted many of Kant’s ideas about maturity in his philosophically informed critique of monopoly conditions under late capitalism. The second section will explore Adorno’s claim that the educational system could foster maturity by encouraging critical reflection on the social conditions that have made us what we are. Finally, this article will demonstrate that Adorno links enlightenment to Kant’s idea of a realm of ends.

Keywords

AdornoKantmaturityautonomyenlightenmentrealm of ends

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Articles
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Kantian Review , Volume 25 , Special Issue 4: Special Issue on Kant and the Frankfurt School , December 2020 , pp. 541 - 557
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Kantian Review

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