Adorno ranked Sohn-Rethel’s later exposé as his greatest philosophical shock since Benjamin

Evidence

Ten years later, Sohn-Rethel sent Adorno his so-called ‘Lucerne exposé’, a lengthy letter expounding on lines of thought for a further draft. In contrast to the earlier exposé, it elicited an enthusiastic response in which Adorno calls it ‘the greatest intellectual shock I experienced in philosophy since my first encounter with Benjamin’s work – in 1923!’ — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 309

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the reversal of judgment in intellectual history — a figure mocked in one decade becomes canonized the next; also echoes Adorno’s Benjamin relationship central to the revisionist-liberal reading. — connects to: Adorno soured on Sohn-Rethel over his endless unfinished drafts — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 323
• QUESTION: What exactly changed in the Lucerne exposé that triggered this reversal? The chapter says it relates to the common genesis of commodity-form and thought-forms.

Broader Connections

• Adorno soured on Sohn-Rethel over his endless unfinished drafts #complicates (0.78) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 323