Adorno's Secularization of Hope

Author:

Randolph, Benjamin

Graduate Program:

Philosophy

Degree:

Doctor of Philosophy

Document Type:

Dissertation

Date of Defense:

April 12, 2023

Committee Members:

Daniel Purdy, Outside Unit & Field Member
Eduardo Mendieta, Major Field Member
Leonard Lawlor, Program Head/Chair
Uygar Abaci, Major Field Member
Amy Allen, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
John Christman, Major Field Member

Keywords:

Hope
Theodor W. Adorno
Frankfurt School Critical Theory
Secularization
Modernity
Jürgen Habermas
Religion

Abstract:

This dissertation reconstructs and defends Theodor W. Adorno’s original conception of hope. I show that Adorno belongs to a tradition in modern philosophy of revising the concept of hope so that it fits the assumptions and expectations of individuals in modern society. I call this process of revision the “secularization of hope,” since the changes to the concept correspond to the general trends of secularizing societies. Adorno, however, argues that there are fundamental impasses to secularizing hope. Traditionally, hope was a religious conception that assured a just and happy condition with reference to an omnibenevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient God. Modern philosophers, such as Hegel and Marx, attempt to absorb this religious conception into a theory of historical progress, according to which we may hope for a just and rational world because humanity’s historical development progresses toward greater justice and rationality. Adorno argues that not only is it impossible for the progressive conception to absorb the religious conception; the two conceptions, in fact, depend on each other to be plausible. Adorno’s novel approach to hope turns on showing how the progressive and religious conceptions are reciprocally conditioning but irreducible to each other. The dissertation develops this conception of hope according to Adorno’s “negative dialectic.” It first shows the insufficiency of a freestanding progressive conception. It then examines failed philosophical efforts to assimilate the progressive and religious conceptions. Finally, it presents Adorno’s original account in which the two conceptions condition each other yet cannot be reconciled into a unified concept of hope. This yields a fallibilistic concept of hope that promises, but does not guarantee, that human beings can create a just, meaningful, and happy world.