The concept of "administered world" in Theodor W. Adorno's Negative Dialectics: critique of ratio and emancipation

• Grant number: 25/05330-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: January 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - History of Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: Luiz Sérgio Repa
• Grantee: Ariane Barrocal Velasco
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the concept of 'administered world' in Theodor W. Adorno's philosophy, drawing from his Negative Dialectics. It seeks to understand how this perspective is articulated in Adorno's work, relating it to the Adornian concept of ratio and the critique developed from it. To this end, we will investigate how the critique of the administered world connects with the concept of identity and its relationship with the Marxian shift in response to Hegelian philosophy, considering both Adorno's affinities with Marx and his criticisms of him. Finally, the research will explore the critique of the administered world through the lens of the idea of emancipation in Adorno, highlighting the core of this proposal as a negative stance against the dominance of ratio in the administered world - a position which is often neglected by Adornian literature regarding ratio and its relationship with Marx's critique of political economy as social critique.