Estetikens blinda fläck : En undersökning av Adornos formbegrepp

Sammanfattning

My purpose with this thesis is to examine Adorno’s rethinking of the aesthetic concept of form, in his last work, Ästhetische Theorie. Artistic form has in the tradition of aesthetics been quite forgotten according to Adorno. He even calls it, “the blind spot of aesthetics”. To rework the concept of form he introduces a set of conceptual relationships that takes an indispensable part in the new multifaceted concept of form. In fact, there is a plurality of concepts that is being put to work, to arrive at a new understanding of form. My methodological approach has been to trace these conceptual relationships that revolve around the aesthetic form and to highlight their connections. My contribution with this undertaking is to accentuate the weightiness of the form concept in Ästhetische Theorie. In the concept, Adorno’s materialistic thinking also becomes discernible. This aspect is especially mirrored in the theoretical attention he pays to the aesthetic material and the artifact itself. Another purpose of this thesis is to explore how the aesthetic form can be critical and to fathom what it implies. Criticism in Ästhetische Theorie is closely related to what Adorno calls aesthetic truth, which is taking shape in the artistic form. The form is thus related to many of the essential concepts in Ästhetische Theorie, such as truth and illusion. The study further examines how the critical form can be autonomous, while at the same time being deeply enmeshed in society.