On Adorno’s Moral Philosophy

The main idea of Adorno’s philosophy is "anti-system". When it comes to the study of Adorno’s moral philosophy, it seems to fall into the framework of "system". The "paradox" makes the researcher quite hesitant. However, theoretical study must use concept, category and logical system and can not escape the "bondage" of the theoretical system. Otherwise, the object of study can’t be objectively presented. Therefore, in accordance with the objective requirements of the theoretical research, the paper combs and interprets the idea of Adorno’s moral philosophy, trying to outline an overview of its moral philosophy, although it violates the subject of Adorno’s philosophy, but I can not deal with the case. The following shows the basic content of Adorno’s moral philosophy:1. Clarifying the starting point of Adorno’s moral philosophy. The starting point can be divided into two areas:first, the starting point of the social reality. The paper illuminates Adorno’s statement that the modern society is "Wrong life cannot be lived rightly", that is "the status of the wrong life". By illustrating Adorno’s revealing of the false prosperity of the culture industry and generalization of the anti-Semitism and the meaning of society non-moral and neglecting subject, I show how Adorno seeks the starting point of the social reality by criticizing the modern society. Secondly, the theoretical starting point. The paper revolves around the Adorno how to reveal the variation of Enlightenment rationality, pointing out why the instrumental rationality becomes the dominant logic in the social life and how value rationality is ignored in the society that follows the exchange principle, which highlights the importance of Adorno’s critique of identity logic, and why this criticism has become the theoretical starting point of moral philosophy.2. Clarifying the basic point of Adorno’s moral philosophy. The main idea of the part is to illustrate how Kant’s moral philosophy is regarded as its tool of his study because Adorno’s theory relies heavily on the philosophy of Kant and point out the important roles of the tool. First, being related to a discourse conversion, that is Adorno rejects the classical consequentiality-utilitarianism with the help of Kant’s deontology; secondly, clarifying the main idea of Kant’s deontology, that is, its theoretical background and the subject, which is related to the important values of modern Western society and the Enlightenment period; thirdly, clarifying the significance of Kant’s moral theory or the basic reason of its moral philosophy which is given by Adorno; fourth, defining the type of Adorno’s interpretation of the philosophy and perspective, and clarifying the basic domain of Adorno’s interpretation on Kant’s moral theory.3. Presenting how Adorno start his moral philosophy. The part points out that Adorno’s criticizing the non-moral of sociality is mainly "not free" and he explores the moral philosophy with the help of the idea of freedom of Kant’s deontology. As the main theory of modern moral philosophy, the idea of freedom and moral laws of Kant’s deontology have a significant influence on Adorno. The content reads as follows:First, I clarify the concept of idea and moral laws in Kant’s deontology and show how Kant demonstrates them. Second, I clarify how Adorno interpret the concept of freedom and moral laws to show the unique of his interpretation. Third, I point out the reasonable points and limitation of Adorno’s interpretation and compare it with the classical interpretation of Kant’s moral philosophy to highlight the problem in Kant and Adorno’s general views of moral philosophy.4. Clarifying the essence of Adorno’s moral philosophy is that he explores the moral philosophy from a metaphysical dimension. The aim of Adorno’s dialectics is the "identity" framework of traditional philosophy, which also acts on the social logical thinking and becomes the resource of strengthening it. The essence of the Negative Dialectics is "non-identity" and "absolute negation". Therefore, from the sight of broad moral philosophy, I clarify the significance of the Negative Dialectics in the "non-moral"’society. From the sight of the moral philosophical theory, I show the theoretical value of the Negative Dialectics on Kant’s moral theory, and described Adorno’s reflection on moral philosophy.