Kierkegaard, Adorno, and the Socratic Individual

The relation between the individual and history is as central to the thought of Kierkegaard as it is to political philosophy as a whole. In the present age, does the individual create history or does history create the individual? These questions are also central to Theodor Adorno, who took aim at K...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe European legacy, toward new paradigms Vol. 18; no. 7; pp. 833 - 849
Main Author Havers, Grant
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Routledge 01.12.2013
Subjects
Ancient Greek Philosophy
Criticism
Despotism
Dualism
Freedom
Historical analysis
Individualism
Oppression
Political Philosophy
Rationalism
Secularism
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Summary:The relation between the individual and history is as central to the thought of Kierkegaard as it is to political philosophy as a whole. In the present age, does the individual create history or does history create the individual? These questions are also central to Theodor Adorno, who took aim at Kierkegaard for ignoring the historical and social constraints that inhibit the freedom of the individual. Adorno's Kierkegaard offers only dogmatic faith and abstract individualism without providing any rational, liberating challenge to oppression. Yet Adorno's interpretation of Kierkegaard is undermined by his uncritical embrace of the dualism of reason and faith as well as his celebration of Socrates as the true individual critic of power. Adorno ironically ignores Kierkegaard's own exposure of Socratic rationalism as the fatal pathway towards accepting oppression, just as he fails to comprehend Kierkegaard's idea of the "religious" individual as the true opponent of both religious and secular tyranny.
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ISSN:1084-8770
1470-1316
DOI:10.1080/10848770.2013.839491