Adorno rejected Benjamin’s equation of commodity with the archaic

Evidence

On his first reading of the draft of “The Paris of the Second Empire in Baudelaire,” Adorno was critical. Vacationing in Hornberg in the Black Forest, in the summer of 1935 — Adorno occasionally returned to Germany after the Nazis took over — he wrote Benjamin a long letter outlining his objections. His most general criticism was of Benjamin’s allegedly undialectical use of such categories as the fetishism of commodities. As noted earlier, Adorno saw some reification as a necessary element in all human objectifications. Accordingly, he argued against Benjamin’s equation of the commodity with the “archaic” as such. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 617

Categorization

• DEFINE: Adorno’s reification critique: he saw reification as partly necessary in all human objectification, which drove his objection to Benjamin’s approach.
• XREF: connects to: Adorno rejected Benjamin’s philological method as trapped between magic and positivism. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 620; Adorno rejects causal-genetic and ideal-typical models of the commodity-form relationship. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 330; Adorno’s criticisms of Benjamin’s Marxism reveal his own conception of Marxian critique — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 221 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Adorno rejects causal-genetic and ideal-typical models of the commodity-form relationship. #expands (0.85) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 330
• Adorno’s core concepts originate from Benjamin but his political economy developed against him #exemplifies (0.85) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 294
• Adorno’s criticisms of Benjamin’s Marxism reveal his own conception of Marxian critique #expands (0.75) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 221