Ética e estética da alteridade em Horkheimer, Adorno e Freud: comentários a partir de “elementos do anti-semitismo” e “o inquietante”

Ao adotar como foco inicial a referência, feita por Horkheimer e Adorno em "Elementos do Anti-Semitismo: limites do esclarecimento", ao texto de Freud denominado "O Inquietante", o presente trabalho pretende estabelecer alguns pontos de contato entre si no que se refere ao importante campo de estudos voltado ao preconceito. Nestes termos, propõe uma ética e uma estética da alteridade que, voltadas à dissonância de uma estranha-familiaridade, aparecem pautadas pela valorização da negatividade em detrimento de uma filosofia positiva cujas luzes podem conduzir à mais absoluta cegueira totalitária. A aposta aqui reside na possibilidade de que, remetendo às fraturas do contato do homem com o que lhe parece real, tal movimento traga consigo o resgate de uma tragicidade que resista em se deixar apropriar pelos anseios de domínio e comodidade representativa tão caros à razão instrumental e, com ela, aos discursos de intolerância para com as diferenças.

Recepção: divergências metodológicas entre adorno e Lazarsfeld

Lazarsfeld convidou Adorno para, juntos, realizarem uma pesquisa sobre a audição de música no rádio. Nada deu certo, tornando a colaboração impossível. Na raiz da discórdia está a divergência entre a metodologia funcionalista de Lazarsfeld e a teoria crítica de Adorno. Este criticava no primeiro o apego à imediatez da escuta, sem levar em conta a categoria dialética da mediação.

Transatlantic negotiations on "hell"?: W. E. B. Du Bois's visit to fascist Germany and Theodor W. Adorno's exile in the land of the culture industry

In 1936, the African-American intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois visited Nazi Germany for a period of five months. Two years later, the eleven-year-long American exile of the German philosopher Theodor W. Adorno began. From the latter’s perspective, the United States was the “home” of the Culture Industry. One intuitively assumes that these sojourns abroad must have amounted to “hell on earth” for both the civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois and the subtle intellectual Adorno. But was this really the case? Or did they perhaps arrive at totally different conclusions? This thesis deals with these questions and attempts to make sense of the experiences of both men. By way of a systematic and comparative analysis of published texts, hitherto unpublished documents and secondary literature, this dissertation first contextualizes Du Bois’s and Adorno’s transatlantic negotiations and then depicts them. The panoply of topics with which both men concerned themselves was diverse. In Du Bois’s case it encompassed Europe, science and technology, Wagner operas, the Olympics, industrial education, race relations, National Socialism and the German Africanist Diedrich Westermann. The opinion pieces which Du Bois wrote for the newspaper “Pittsburgh Courier” during his stay in Germany serve as a major source for this thesis. In his writings on America, Adorno concentrated on what he regarded as the universally victorious Enlightenment and the predominance of mass culture. This investigation also sheds light on the correspondences between the philosopher and Max Horkheimer, Thomas Mann, Walter Benjamin, Siegfried Kracauer and Oskar and Maria Wiesengrund. In these autobiographical texts, Adorno’s thoughts revolve around such diverse topics as the American landscape, his fears as German, Jew and Left-Hegelian as well as the loneliness of the refugee. This dissertation has to refute the intuitive assumption that Du Bois’s and Adorno’s experiences abroad were horrible events for them. Both men judged the foreign countries in which they were staying in an extremely differentiated and subtle manner. Du Bois, for example, was not racially discriminated against in Germany. He was also delighted by the country’s rich cultural offerings. Adorno, for his part, praised the U.S.’s humanity of everyday life and democratic spirit. In short: Although both men partly did have to deal with utterly negative experiences, the metaphor of “hell on earth” is simply untenable as an overall conclusion.

Na 1 Nachlass Max Horkheimer, 500 - Korrespondenzen mit Theodor W. Adorno (p. VI 1, 1 - 121)

Briefwechsel zwischen Max Horkheimer und Theodor W. Adorno und Gretel Adorno, 1927 - 1938; 1 Brief (Kopie) von Henri Bergson an Theodor W. Adorno, 1935;

Na 1 Nachlass Max Horkheimer, 501 - Korrespondenzen von Theodor W. Adorno (p. VI 1, 122 - 268)

Briefwechsel zwischen Max Horkheimer und Theodor W. Adorno und Gretel Adorno, 1927 - 1938; 1 Brief vom United States of America General Consulat in London an Theodor W. Adorno, 1937; 1 Brief von Theodor W. Adorno an Frau Sing, 1937; 1 Brief von Theodor W. Adorno an ... Kluthe, 1937; 1 Brief von Theodor W. Adorno an ... Wolfenstein, 1937; 2 Briefe von Theodor W. Adorno und Max Horkheimer an Ernst Krenek, 1937; 1 Brief von Ernst Krenek an Max Horkheimer, 1937; 1 Brief von Paul Oppenheim an Max Horkheimer, 1937; 2 Briefe von Oscar und Maria Wiesengrund an Max Horkheimer, 1937; 1 Brief von Theodor W. Adorno an Siegfried Kracauer, 1937;

Na 1 Nachlass Max Horkheimer, 502 - Korrespondenzen mit Theodor W. Adorno (p. VI 1, 269 - 366; VI 1 A, 1 - 55)

Briefwechsel zwischen Max Horkheimer und Theodor W. Adorno, 1927 - 1938; 1 Brief von Theodor W. Adorno an Hans F. Redlich, 1938; 1 Brief von Max Horkheimer an United States of America General Consul in Stuttgart, 1938; 1 Brief von Rudolph Kolisch an Theodor W. Adorno, 1938; 1 Brief von Paul F. Lazarsfeld an Theodor W. Adorno, 1938; 2 Briefe von Theodor W. Adorno an Paul F. Lazarsfeld, 1938; 1 Brief von Hanna Maaß an Gretel Adorno, 1937; Briefwechsel und Beilagen zwischen Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno und Gretel Adorno, 1939 - 1940; 1 Brief (Entwurf) von Theodor W. Adorno an Robert M. Hutchins, 1940; 4 Briefe von Friedrich Pollock an Theodor W. Adorno, 1940; 2 Briefe von Margot von Mendelssohn an Theodor W. Adorno, 1940; 2 Briefe von Theodor W. Adorno an Margot von Mendelssohn, 1940; 1 Brief von Franz L. Neumann an Theodor W. Adorno, 1940; 1 Brief (Entwurf von T.W. Adorno) von Max Horkheimer an Mrs. Charles E. Mitchell, 1940; 1 Brief und Beilage von Gretel Adorno an Frederick Wild, 1939; 1 Brief von French und Co. Eifert an Gretel Adorno, 1939; 2 Briefe von Theodor W. Adorno an Herbert W. Schneider, 1939; 1 Brief von Theodor W. Adorno an Jean Wahl, 1939; 1 Brief von Max Horkheimer an Roger M. Howson von der Columbia University Library in New York, 1939;

Na 1 Nachlass Max Horkheimer, 503 - Korrespondenzen mit Theodor W. Adorno (p. VI 1B, 1-132)

Briefwechsel und Beilagen zwischen Theodor W. Adorno und Gretel Adorno, 1941; 2 Briefe von Frederick Wild an Gretel Adorno, 1941; 1 Brief von Gretel Adorno an Frederick Wild, 1941; 1 Brief von Theodor W. Adorno an Paul Hagen von American Friends of German Freedom in New York, 1941; Briefwechsel zwischen Theodor W. Adorno und Margot von Mendelssohn, 1941; 1 Brief (Entwurf?) von Theodor W. Adorno an Franz L. Neumann, 1941; 1 Brief von Eva Hempel an Margo von Mendelssohn, 1941; 1 Brief von Theodor W. Adorno an ... David, 1941;

Na 1 Nachlass Max Horkheimer, 504 - Korrespondenzen mit Theodor W. Adorno (p. VI 1B, 133 - 295)

Briefwechsel und Beilagen zwischen Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno und Gretel Adorno, 1942 - 1944; 1 Brief von Friedrich Pollock an Theodor W. Adorno, 1942; 1 Brief von Theodor W. Adorno an Friedrich Pollock, 1944; 1 Brief von Else Frenkel-Brunswick an Theodor W. Adorno, 1944; 1 Brief von Max Horkheimer an das American Jewish Commitee, 1944; Briefwechsel und Beilagen zwischen Gretel Adorno, Theodor W. Adorno und Frederick Wild, 1942 - 1944; 1 Brief von Gretel Adorno an Leo Löwenthal, 1944; 1 Brief von Monroe E. Deutsch an Theodor W. Adorno, 1944; Briefwechsel zwischen Theodor W. Adorno und Margot von Mendelssohn, 1942 - 1943; 1 Brief von der Bank of America in Los Angeles an Frederick Wild, 1942;

Na 1 Nachlass Max Horkheimer, 505 - Korrespondenzen mit Theodor W. Adorno (p. VI 1C, 1 - 254)

Briefwechsel und Beilagen zwischen Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. und Gretel Adorno, 1945; 1 Brief von Gretel Adorno an Frederick Wild, 1945; 1 Brief von Theodor W. Adorno an Leo Löwenthal, 1945; Briefwechsel zwischen Theodor W. Adorno und John Slawson, 1945; 1 Brief von Else Frenkel-Brunswick an Theodor W. Adorno, 1944; 2 Briefe von Gretel Adorno an Margot von Mendelssohn, 1945; Briefwechsel und Beilagen zwischen Max Horkheimer und Theodor W. und Gretel Adorno, 1946 - 1948; 1 Brief von Theodor W. Adorno an Ralph L. Beals, 1948; Briefwechsel zwischen Gretel Adorno und Frederick Wild, 1946 - 1947;

Na 1 Nachlass Max Horkheimer, 506 - Korrespondenzen mit Theodor W. Adorno (p. VI 1D, 1 - 229)

69 Briefe zwischen Theodor W. Adorno, Gretel Adorno und Max Horkheimer mit Beilagen, 1949-1950; 1 Brief von Gretel Adorno an Margot von Mendelssohn, 15.08.1950; 1 Brief von Max Horkheimer an Alice Maier, 08.05.1950; 1 Brief von Max Bense an Max Horkheimer, 20.12.1949; 5 Briefe zwischen Theodor W. Adorno und Hans Paeschke, 1949; 2 Briefe zwischen Theodor W. Adorno und Melvin J. Lasky, 1949; 1 Brief von Max Horkheimer an John Slawson; 1 Brief von Max Horkheimer an Sandy Flowerman, 1949; 1 Brief von Friedrich Pollock an Max Horkheimer, 12.10.1949; 1 Brief von Maria W. an Max Horkheimer, 03.10.1949; 2 Briefe zwischen Marc Vosk und Theodor W. Adorno, 1949; 1 Brief von Marc Vosk, 26.05.1949;

Na 1 Nachlass Max Horkheimer, 507 - Korrespondenzen mit Theodor W. Adorno (p. VI 1E, 1 - 145 b)

Briefwechsel zwischen Theodor W. Adorno, Gretel Adorno und Max Horkheimer, 1949-1954; Briefwechsel zwischen Alice Maier uind Max Horkheimer; Briefwechsel zwischen dem Hessischen Minister für Erziehung und Volksbildung und Theodor W. Adorno sowie Max Horkheimer; 1 Brief zwischen Alice Maier und Leo Löwenthal; 1 Brief zwischen Melvin J. Lasky und Theodor W. Adorno, 14.01.1950;

Na 1 Nachlass Max Horkheimer, 508 - Korrespondenzen mit Theodor W. Adorno (p. VI 1E, 146 - 320)

Briefwechsel zwischen Theodor W. Adorno, Gretel Adorno und Max Horkheimer, 1949-1954; Briefwechsel zwischen Alice Maier uind Max Horkheimer; Briefwechsel zwischen dem Hessischen Minister für Erziehung und Volksbildung und Theodor W. Adorno sowie Max Horkheimer; 1 Brief von Alice Maier an Leo Löwenthal; 1 Brief von Alice Maier an die Bank of America in Los Angeles, 29.10.1953; 3 Briefe zwischen Marie Jahoda und Theodor W. Adorno, 1953;

Na 1 Nachlass Max Horkheimer, 509 - Korrespondenzen mit Theodor W. Adorno (p. VI 1E, 321 - 447)

Briefwechsel zwischen Theodor W. Adorno, Gretel Adorno und Max Horkheimer, 1949-1954; Briefwechsel zwischen Alice Maier und Max Horkheimer; 1 Brief von Theodor W. Adorno an N.G. Horwitt, 25.06.1954; 1 Brief von Schaeder an Theodor W. Adorno, 22.02.1954;

Na 1 Nachlass Max Horkheimer, 511 - Korrespondenzen mit Theodor W. Adorno (p. VI 2, 213 - 379)

Briefwechsel zwischen Theodor W. Adorno, Gretel Adorno und Max Horkheimer, 1955-1957; Briefwechsel zwischen Alice Maier und Gertrud Straulino, 1957; 3 Briefe von Theodor W. Adorno und dem Soziologen Kurt H. Wolff, 1957; 1 Brief von Theodor W. Adorno und Herrn Hesse, 29.07.1957; 1 Brief von Theodor W. Adorno an Herbert Marcuse, 16.07.1957; 1 Brief von Theodor W. Adorno und dem Deutschen Institut für Talentstudien Köln, 03.07.1957; 1 Brief von Franz Ollig an Max Horkheimer, 10.04.1957; 1 Brief von H. Schelsky von der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie in Hamburg an Friedrich Bülow, 19.02.1957; 1 Rundbrief der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie in Hamburg; 1 Brief von Max Horkheimer und Theodor W. Adorno an Julius Ebbinghaus, 07.01.1957;

Na 1 Nachlass Max Horkheimer, 512 - Korrespondenzen mit Theodor W. Adorno (p. VI 3, 1 - 242)

Briefe zwischen Theodor W. Adorno, Gretel Adorno und Max Horkheimer; 1 Brief der Schauspielerin und Schriftstellerin Maria Burnati von Möllendorff an Theodor W. Adorno und Beilage, 17.11.1958; 6 Briefe zwischen Theodor W. Adorno und Alice Maier, 1958-1960; 1 Brief von Theodor W. Adorno an Stadtrat Keller, 17.04,1958; 1 Brief von Theodor W. Adorno an Helmut Viebrock, 27.03.1958;