Adorno held that utopia must orient inquiry yet never be depicted directly

Evidence

Not only have all upstanding human beings regarded this point with a kind of taboo – and not least Marx, who left the depiction of the society of thefuturetoBebel.Idon’twanttosaythatthisexerciseshouldbeabandoned – the vision of a just society has to be the centre of force endowing every sentence written about sociology with light. But it is not beneficial to look at the sun. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1486

Categorization

• XREF: The solar metaphor for the unrepresentable utopia parallels other apophatic ‘centers of force’ in critical theory; resonates with the reader’s interest in critique of political economy. — connects to: Adorno’s essayistic free thought was a utopia that avoided empirical engagement — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2287; Popper called Adorno’s apparent pessimism resignation from failed utopian hopes — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2414
• SEED: Article angle: the analytic contrast between a regulative ideal (utopia as orientation) and a depicted goal — why the Frankfurt School insisted the better society can only be felt indirectly, not pictured.