An Introduction to Dialectics

Editor’s Foreword

LECTURE ONE
Prejudices against the dialectic 
the double character of the dialectic 
the dialectic as method of articulating the Ideas (Plato) 
the order of concepts expresses the order of things 
the vital nerve of the dialectic 
the dialectic as necessary ‘exaggeration’
the positivist element of the dialectic

LECTURE TWO
‘The movement of the concept’ (Hegel)
the dialectic hypostasizes the identity of thought and being 
Hegel’s dialectic as the union of identity and non-identity
non-identity in the process, identity in the result
introduction to the dialectic as a model of dialectic
the movement of the concept is not sophistical 
the movement of the concept as the path of philosophical science 
the object of knowledge is internally dynamic
the movement of the object is not arbitrary 
the metaphysical concept of truth
the inevitable reification of truth 
historical movement is not the movement of being but is concrete 
the dialectic is not a philosophy of foundations
the temporal core of dialectic

LECTURE THREE
Critique of prima philosophia 
matter no first principle either 
Hegel’s dialectic also a preservation of first philosophy
all determination implies mediation 
the movement of the concept is no external contribution of thought 
a sophistical displacement of meaning in Gehlen 
the whole is the true solely as the result of all mediations Ð the idea of an open dialectic 
the whole is neither a pantheistic totality of nature nor a seamless unity 
‘the truth is essentially result’ 
individual phenomena only intelligible in terms of the whole 
recourse to the whole is mediated through the self-movement of the individual
the concept of the whole as already given

LECTURE FOUR
The traditional concept of system: derivation of the whole from one fundamental principle 
the dialectical concept of system 
determinate negation 
contradiction in Kant 
contradiction in Hegel 
antithesis arises from thesis 
the measure of the absolute lies in objectivity
dialectical criticism is necessarily immanent 
refutation of a thought as development of the thought 
the emergent absolute is essentially temporal
the interaction of theory and practice
the truth as result is concrete

LECTURE FIVE
The charge of universal rationalization
dialectical thought is not rationalistic thought 
the dispute over rationalism 
conceptual thought is indispensable 
the truth moment of irrationalism 
the irrational as a moment of ratio 
suffering and happiness are immanent to thought 
being in itself, being for itself, being in and for itself 
relationship of thesis, antithesis, synthesis 
dialectical method concerns the contradictory life of the object 
the dialectic not immune to ideological abuse

LECTURE SIX
Dialectical method not a formal conceptual schema 
the objectivation of truth 
every true thought becomes untrue once it is isolated 
the triadic schema irrelevant in Hegel 
the charge of universalizing contradiction 
contradiction is not a first principle 
Hegel’s critique of Kant’s transcendental dialectic

LECTURE SEVEN
Hegel’s dialectical principle of development is a principle of real being
dialectic in Kant is only the negative side of the critique of reason 
the positive moment of the critique of reason
reflection as the principle of the speculative self-knowledge of reason 
knowledge of knowledge also the principle of substantive knowledge 
dialectic and formal logic – the ‘example’ in Hegel 
logical form of the judgement and the ‘emphatic concept’ 
dialectical contradiction expresses the disparity of thought and world

LECTURE EIGHT
Dialectic names the negative state of the world by its proper name 
contradiction not only in thought, but is objective 
contradiction as principle of diremption is also the principle of unity 
dialectic as union of the a priori and experience 
the objective order of the world also conceptual in character 
coercive character of dialectic – the systematic claim of dialectic 
dialectical contradiction in Hegel’s political philosophy 
dialectical system not a seamless deductive structure 
the concept of experience in Hegel

LECTURE NINE
The paradoxical task of knowledge: identifying the non-identical 
identity of thought and being (Hegel)
non-identity and contradiction not resolvable in thought (Marx) 
the materialist priority of being over consciousness is problematic 
the whole and the parts presuppose one another 
the materialist critique of literature cannot proceed from unmediated instances of particular experience (Benjamin) 
dialectical materialism is not vulgar materialism 
the charge of metaphysically hypostasizing the totality (Weber)

LECTURE TEN
Knowledge of the social whole precedes individual experience 
prior awareness of the whole not unique to human beings 
rejection of Hegel’s attempted restoration of immediate experience 
the congruence of whole and parts as result of a process 
intuition – theory neither static nor complete 
the danger of a dogmatic ossification of dialectic (Lukács) 
tracing knowledge back to origins is undialectica
survival of obsolete philosophical notions in the individual sciences

LECTURE ELEVEN
Terminological remarks on the concept of role
neither whole nor part enjoys priority over the other 
metaphysics as science of the ultimate ground 
origin as merel beginning (Hegel) 
the ontological appropriation of Hegel 
‘abstract’ in Hegel
the dialectic not a dynamic ontology
‘being’ in Hegel
philosophy of immediacy as regress to mythology
dialectic and positivism 
the ‘natural’ appearance of a reified world

LECTURE TWELVE
Affinity between dialectic and positivism 
the constitutive distinction of essence and appearance 
dialectic exposes the apparent immediacy of ultimate givens 
the Darmstadt investigation – motivational analysis in industrial sociology 
opinion research, empirical and critical 
transition from positivism to dialectic 
contradiction in the given as the principle of dialectical movement
 
ECTURE THIRTEEN
Scientific method in Descartes 
rationalism as the will to control nature 
the postulate of self-evidence (Descartes) 
a hermeneutic intervention
self-evidence as a form of ultimate metaphysical grounding 
evidence of sense-perception already mediated 
the order of knowing, the order of the known 
experience and conceptuality 
emphasis on analysis destroys the crucial interest of knowing 
philosophy of nature and natural science 
philosophy always bound to the material knowledge of the sciences

LECTURE FOURTEEN
Analysis alone yields no knowledge 
the universal concretized through the particular 
attitude of dialectic to the concept of development 
the family not merely a remnant 
society not an organism, but antagonistic in character 
knowledge as a continuity of steps 
the unity of society constituted by discontinuity 
the presumption of continuity is merely affirmative 
‘enthusiasm’ a necessary moment of knowledge 
the positive aspect of continuity

LECTURE FIFTEEN
The coercive character of logic 
immanent and transcendent critique
mobility of thought is not an evasion 
contradictions are constitutive 
against relativism 
dialectical cognition of the particular object requires explicit self-reflection 
the charge of groundlessness 
a sociological excursus on the mobility of thought 
the substance of philosophy lies in the vital source of its concepts 
arrested movement in Heraclitus and Hegel

LECTURE SIXTEEN
The dogmatic character of the axiom of completeness
the fulfilment of this demand in German Idealism 
dialectical clarification of the objective by recourse to models
'ideal types’ in Weber
‘intuition of essences’ in Husserl
thinking in models 
labyrinthine communication in literary works (Kafka, Balzac, von Doderer) 
historical transformations in the concept of system

LECTURE SEVENTEEN
Consciousness as unifying principle in the modern conception of system 
critique and renewal of the concept of system in 19th century
contemporary appeal of the concept of system
the spectral afterlife of the concept of system 
the need for system and the closed experience of the world 
no categorical continuum amongst the particular sciences (Talcott Parsons) 
apologetic character of the functionalist concept of system – ‘frame of reference’ 
the logic of science and debased metaphysics complement one another today 
dialectic a beneficent anachronism

LECTURE EIGHTEEN
Dichotomous consciousness 
dialectical mediation not a matter of Both/And 
mediation as the critical self-reflection of extremes 
role of Either/Or in the social sciences 
dialectic and the negative concept of truth 
values are neither transcendent nor merely relative
the criterion of truth is immanent to the object 
the dialectic is not a matter of ‘standpoints’ 
dialectic furnishes no recipes 
definition as logical form

LECTURE NINETEEN
The limits of deixis and definition with respect to the concept 
the concept is not a tabula rasa – concept and constellation 
life and fluidity of the concept as the object of dialectic 
verbal definitions and philosophical definitions 
philosophical definition requires prior knowledge of the matter in question 
it extends concepts into force fields 
abbreviation as specific feature of philosophical definition 
operational definitions in the particular sciences
forfeiting the synthetic moment of knowledge 
operational definitions and their field of application 
dialectic as a critical mediation of realism and nominalism 
truth moment of the phenomenological analysis of meaning

LECTURE TWENTY
Dialectical articulation of concepts as constellation and configuration 
the order of ideas in Plato as an expression of the social division of labour 
the exposition of the matter in question not external
exposition guarantees the objectivity of knowledge
contradiction in the identifying judgement as starting point of dialectic
truth and untruth of the logical judgement form
subjective synthesis and objective reference in the judgement 
an immanent critique of logic – the phenomenological critique of inference 
surrender of logical subordination as index of dialectical thought 
is knowledge possible without assuming the identity of subject and object?

Adorno’s Lecture Notes

Abbreviations

Editor’s Notes

Index