The reconstruction of the “Genius Aesthetics” in Adorno’s philosophy

Abstract

This study claims that the Jena Romanticist philosophy created a unique subject within the history of philosophy. The romantic subject has a certain mission which is “romanticizing the world.” This unique subject emerges in opposition to the Enlightenment values since the Jena Romanticists were one of the most prominent reactionaries of the Enlightenment thought. Their concept of Bildung, however, implies that the Jena Romanticist philosophy is still consisted of universal ideas. In that sense, it could be argued that there is a certain ambivalence in Jena Romanticist philosophy which unfolds itself especially in the ironic existence of the Romantic artist. On the one hand, the Romantic subject is a self-sufficient, empowered and allencompassing subject. On the other hand, it knows that the world is finite and “to romanticize the world” is an unattainable goal. In this thesis it is maintained that, although on the surface Adorno is critical of the Jena Romanticist subject and, accordingly, of the concept of the Romanticist artist, he also embraces an influence of the Romanticist concept of artist. This is mainly because of his definition of “the autonomous artist” who is isolated from the society. Together with the artist, the expert listeners are also regarded as very much away from the other listeners. Furthermore, art’s being so remote from the society in its autonomous status also results in the isolation of the artist and the abandonment of society to its own. All of the above are the most important reasons for arguing that Adorno’s aesthetics comes closer to the “Genius Aesthetics.”