Adorno read Kierkegaard’s household interiors as revealing an objectless inwardness

Evidence

Adorno approached Kierkegaard’s work in his Habilitation thesis in the same way that Benjamin had approached Goethe’s Elective Affinities: with a destructive critical attitude which attempted to preserve what could be saved. He was attempting to complete' Kierkegaard's philosophy, which he classified as a late form of Idealism, within the outlines of a materialist and theological theory. He saw Kierkegaard's unintentional use of images of the interiors of middle-class homes as indicating an objectless inwardness’ which revealed itself as the decisive characteristic of Kierkegaard’s philosophy. He interpreted this objectless inwardness as the historical form in which the self-satisfaction of the spirit came to light in Kierkegaard. This spirit drew all transcendence down into immanence, and so was not able to sever itself from a mythic conception of nature. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 373

Adorno approached Kierkegaard’s work in his Habilitation thesis in the same way that Benjamin had approached Goethe’s Elective Affinities: with a destructive critical attitude which attempted to preserve what could be saved. He was attempting to complete' Kierkegaard's philosophy, which he classified as a late form of Idealism, within the outlines of a materialist and theological theory. He saw Kierkegaard's unintentional use of images of the interiors of middle-class homes as indicating an objectless inwardness’ which revealed itself as the decisive characteristic of Kierkegaard’s philosophy. He interpreted this objectless inwardness as the historical form in which the self-satisfaction of the spirit came to light in Kierkegaard. This spirit drew all transcendence down into immanence, and so was not able to sever itself from a mythic conception of nature. Applying the procedure used by Benjamin in his books on Elective Affinities and on the Trauerspiel, Adorno hoped to identify in Kierkegaard a starting-point for an escape from the spell of mythic nature. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 373

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the earlier chapter on Adorno’s Kierkegaard Habilitation succeeding where Benjamin’s Trauerspiel book failed — this passage fleshes out exactly how he applied Benjamin’s method. — connects to: Adorno read Kierkegaard’s subjectivism as a covert identity theory. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 259; Adorno read Kierkegaard’s aesthetic as a proto-materialist seed of world-change.
• DEFINE: Defines Adorno’s key early concept of ‘objectless inwardness’ as the historical form of spirit’s self-satisfaction.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 373

Broader Connections

• Adorno read Kierkegaard’s subjectivism as a covert identity theory. #expands (0.85) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 259