| This thesis analyzes and contrasts G. W. F. Hegel's and T. W. Adorno's positions on the nature of rationality and the task of philosophy. Its central aim is to offer a critical interpretation of a thought shared but interpreted differently by both thinkers, namely, that philosophy proceeds from a certain need (Bedurfnis) that is both specific and universal.;Chapters six to nine then interpret Adorno's negative dialectics as a critical reworking of this dialectical problem of framing normativity in historical terms. Adorno agrees with Hegel that the most relevant and satisfying expression of historical suffering is conceptual, yet he also contends that the "compulsion to identity" as such fails to satisfy the need that motivates philosophical thinking. I argue that this is because striving for survival and happiness is not reducible to thought's obsession with identity. For Adorno, happiness and "right life" are blocked in contemporary society because capitalism hypostasizes the identity principle inherent in conceptual thinking. In this context, I argue that Adorno's view of philosophy as essay (Essay) is more, not less, rational than Hegel's understanding of philosophy as an absolute science.;Keywords. Philosophy -- Adorno -- Hegel -- need -- dialectics -- history -- reason -- suffering -- experience.;Hegel spoke of a "need of philosophy". The expression is ambiguous: it is meant to describe the general nature of rational thinking, but also to express how reason or philosophy can justify their historical relevance and satisfy concrete needs. I argue in chapters one to five that Hegel tries to reconcile these two needs, in order to show why identifying with concepts is the key to appeasing the concrete suffering caused by history's own division within itself. The answer is given in absolute knowledge, grounded and justified in respect of thought itself as well as thought's other, i.e., history. Absolute knowledge is point of equilibrium between reason in general and reason as the adequate expression of history's universal needs. |
