„A Precarious Happiness“ – Peter E. Gordon on the Sources of Normativity in Adorno

Critical Theory in Context

In this episode, Marvin Ester interviews Peter E. Gordon about his new book, 'Precarious Happiness: Adorno and the Sources of Normativity.' Gordon is the Amabel B. James Professor of History and a faculty affiliate in the Departments of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Government, and Philosophy at Harvard University. In 'Precarious Happiness,' Gordon argues that Theodor W. Adorno's social critique—contrary to what is often assumed—is, in all its ruthlessness, still grounded in the however fragile experience of happiness that hints at an unfulfilled potential for human flourishing.

Peter E. Gordon, A Precarious Happiness: Adorno and the Sources of Normativity, The University of Chicago Press, 320 pages, 2023.

Peter E. Gordon, Prekäres Glück: Adorno und die Quellen der Normativität, 470 pages, Suhrkamp, 2023.

Capítulos

1. Introduction (00:00:00)

2. How did you come to work on Adorno? (00:01:30)

3. Disciplinary Background (00:06:00)

4. The "negativist" interpretation (00:09:00)

5. Society as Contradictory (00:16:45)

6. Immanent Critique (00:16:45)

7. Happiness (00:26:55)

8. The Antinomy of Self-Mastery (00:40:25)

9. Overcoming All Contradictions? (00:40:25)

10. The Aesthetic of Happiness (00:54:30)

11. The Politics of the Aesthetics (01:01:53)

12. Adorno's Ignorance of the Ambivalences in Popular Culture (01:06:30)