Theodor Adorno 1966

Negative Dialectics

Source: http://www.efn.org/~dredmond/ndtrans.html
Translation: © 2001 by Dennis Redmond;
Original German: © 1997 by Suhrkamp Verlag;
CopyLeft: translation used with permission, Creative Commons (Attribute & ShareAlike);
Transcribed: by Andy Blunden.

Translators Notes: Adorno’s astonishing masterwork is truly the Capital of the 21st century, the first theoretical document to set micropolitics in motion towards global geopolitics. I created this new version of Adorno’s classic text because the existing Ashton translation was riddled with so many basic translating errors as to be virtually unusable in a classroom setting. My new version is far from perfect, but at least gets the philosophical terms right, and hopefully captures a bit more of the incomparable power and beauty of Adorno’s original prose. Feel free to quote, cite or otherwise use this translation; just be sure to cite http://www.efn.org/~dredmond/ndtrans.html as the source.

For those of you who are wondering if a print version is available: this text can only exist on the Internet, as a freeware or copyleft translation. The reason is that the University of Minnesota has the sole rights to publish the English-language translation of Negative Dialectics, and Bob Hullot-Kentor, an extraordinarily gifted translator, is working on a new version, which will, when it comes out, supersede my own version (he's a far better translator than I’ll ever be). Since it’ll take some time for Bob to finish his version, though, my own rough-and-ready version will have to do for the time being.

Negative Dialectics Reading Guide;
Adorno FAQ;
Negative Dialectics Keywords;
Notes on the translation, from Dennis Redmond.

Prologue

Introduction

Part I: Relationship to Ontology

Part II. Negative Dialectics: Concept and Categories

Part III. Models. Freedom: Metacritique of Practical Reason

Part III. Models. World-spirit and Natural History. Excursus on Hegel

Part III. Models. Meditations on Metaphysics

Endnotes