In chapter 2 of the Minima Moralia, Theodor Adorno talks about the disintegrating family unit, the loss of the partitioning between the public and private life. However, there seem to be contradictions, or perhaps entanglements created by virtue of these 2 chapters inhabiting the same text. This essay will attempt to disentangle some of these ideas in a “ludicrous quid pro quo fashion” (Adorno, 1), whilst drawing some assistance from other areas, such as chapter 3, as well. And in doing so, will unravel Adorno’s ideas that violence is inescapable, that certain antagonistic dialectics are necessary, and that not all conflict is bad conflict, thereby ultimately evoking the idea that there is such a thing as benevolent antagonism and dehumanizing and destructive antagonism.
Let us begin with a mutual understanding of certain foundational ideas that this texts employs in order to construct all of its philosophical architectures. We should first realize the significance of Adorno’s decision to speak of the family-unit in the 2nd chapter of the Minima Moralia which is constituted of the parental-unit and the children-unit, for this indicates to the reader that much of the material introduced in the beginning functions as the vocabulary and grammar for a ‘language’ that allows us to understand Adorno’s ideas that are built up later on. This literary and philosophically argumentative tendency is the primary reason I had for choosing to focus exclusively on these 2 chapters. For in focusing on these introductory passages, we can get as close to a philosophical foundation as one can get. And in paying attention to the foundations of any philosophy, we also, in my opinion, have the highest chance of grasping a highest chance of grasping an ...
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...the “slaying of the father” (5), the “quick witted stupidity” (5), and the “infantilism” (5) of the coming generations, children units are failing to overcome the surmountable adversity of the parental units, which was provided so that the children units may spiritually grow. With the dissolving of the family, this positive conflict is no longer present, and there is only the destructive antagonistic relationship of the productivity machine. The benevolent antagonistic relationships of the family were natural, for “the relationship of generations is also one of competition, behind which stands naked violence” (4-5). Violence is inescapable, and it is necessary, and it is benevolent when used correctly: A most unusually political, and even archaic, philosophical epistle to hear from a survivor of World War 2.
Works Cited
Adorno, Theodor, Minima Moralia, Handout.
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