Adorno’s turn to negative dialectics was impatience, not reasoned choice

Evidence

The answer to the question why substantive philosophy and not a material theory of society?' is probably that there was an analogy in Adorno with what Kracauer had once described in connection with Bloch as a running amok to God’. Instead of working on a more adequate interpretation of the world on the level of social theory, impatience caused Adorno’s thoughts to revolve around the idea of gaining access to what had not yet fallen under the spell of the false totality. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2533

Categorization

• SEED: Essay angle: intellectual impatience as a hidden driver of theoretical choices, using Adorno’s turn to negative dialectics as the central case.
• XREF: Connects to Kracauer’s critique of Bloch’s mysticism, a recurring Frankfurt School internecine quarrel.