The Selfsame

Adorno’s Notion of Modernity and Experience

Abstract

Adorno’s explanations of the poverty of experience, the difficulty he encountered when commenting on this in general, and his escape from that so fatal situation for man are elucidated and discussed in this essay. The basic thesis assumed is that the poverty of experience in the phase of secondary education, in consumption of the industry of culture, and in the formation of an authoritarian character, can be traced back to Enlightenment thought on identity, and can only be counterbalanced by the experience of mimesis in art. The goal of this article is to define a concept of experience that can contribute to the development of humankind and provide the foundations of a critique of society.