The linguistic turn in critical theory has been routinely justified with the claim that Adorno's philosophy is trapped within the limits of consciousness philosophy. Yet Adorno's own philosophy of language has not yet been fully and systematically examined in its own right. Philip Hogh argues that it was in fact the linguistic turn in critical theory that prevented a thorough analysis of Adorno's philosophy of language. Here he reconstructs Adorno's philosophy of language and presents it as a coherent theory that demands to be understood as an important contribution to contemporary linguistic philosophy. By analysing all the key concepts in Adorno's thought (subjectivity, epistemology, social theory and aesthetics), and comparing them to Robert Brandom's material inferentialism, John McDowell's theory of conceptual experience and Jurgen Habermas' theory of communicative action, this book presents Adorno's theory as an important contribution to contemporary philosophy of language in its own right.

Der Vorrang des Objekts ist im Werk Theodor W. Adornos ein philosophisches Leitmotiv, welches er von Beginn an und durch alle Gebiete hindurch stets von Neuem variiert. Adorno zeigt damit eine gegenuber der traditionellen Metaphysik veranderte Haltung des Subjekts zu den Objekten seiner Reflexion an, die nicht weniger sein will als die Reflexion auf den Stand der Philosophie seiner Zeit. Die Beitrage in diesem Band widmen sich nicht nur erkenntniskritischen UEberlegungen, sondern auch den asthetischen, sozialwissenschaftlichen oder anthropologischen Aspekten des Vorrangs des Objekts und unternehmen den Versuch, diese Figur im und fur das postmetaphysischen Zeitalter weiterzudenken. Die Autoren*Innen teilen die Ansicht, dass es sich um eine genuin kritische Denkfigur handelt, deren Kraft darin liegt, die Aporien der menschlichen Weltverhaltnisse prazise zu entwickeln, ohne sich der Versuchung hinzugeben, sie durch falsche Zasuren oder Vereinfachungen ihrer Spitzen zu entledigen.

The linguistic turn in critical theory has been routinely justified with the claim that Adorno's philosophy is trapped within the limits of consciousness philosophy. Yet Adorno's own philosophy of language has not yet been fully and systematically examined in its own right. Philip Hogh argues that it was in fact the linguistic turn in critical theory that prevented a thorough analysis of Adorno's philosophy of language. Here he reconstructs Adorno's philosophy of language and presents it as a coherent theory that demands to be understood as an important contribution to contemporary linguistic philosophy. By analysing all the key concepts in Adorno's thought (subjectivity, epistemology, social theory and aesthetics), and comparing them to Robert Brandom's material inferentialism, John McDowell's theory of conceptual experience and Jurgen Habermas' theory of communicative action, this book presents Adorno's theory as an important contribution to contemporary philosophy of language in its own right.