Problems of Moral Philosophy
by Theodor Adorno

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Book Reviews of Problems of Moral Philosophy

Book Review: *Sister Mary Margaret* Explains It All For You,
Summary: 5 Stars

As part of a massive release of translations of material from postwar Europe, Stanford University has done the reading public a great service by making available translations of extremely genial 60s seminars given by the notoriously difficult Theodor Adorno; and frankly, this is the only recently printed book on moral philosophy I would encourage an interested layman to read. Adorno's "crypticisms" derived from a keen understanding of the "problems of living" facing postwar Europe, but here we have a theodicy of sorts for Adorno's legendary radio confrontation with anthropologist Arnold Gehlen presented as an extremely measured consideration of Kantian moral philosophy (Adorno studied under the neo-Kantian Hans Cornelius in the 20s, and problems deriving from Kant form the basis of a kinship between the work of the second Frankfurt school and Michel Foucault).

The exposition is extremely clear, right down to a "frankly uncritical" analysis of Adorno's relationship to the seminar participants, as is Adorno's extreme orientation towards moralism rather than ethical questions posed as observations on "conditions of possibility" for life -- Adorno's famous comment to Gehlen consisted in the claim that the residents of a technological society deserved genuine problems to work through rather than cultural pessimism amidst plenty, and here he gives every indication that he was indeed serious about this. This would be a fine book to study in an upper-level class on moral philosophy, as those looking for "conceptual analysis" are charged with the task of assembling adequate "constellations" of material (from whence confrontations between greats can emerge). Finally, Adorno is one of the few "committed intellectuals" of past eras whose work is still fully accessible in its political cast, and this book really serves as a rebuke of sorts to Benjamin's "Fate and Character", a confrontation worth scrutinizing in detail. There is *every* justification for this book.

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