Adorno rejected Marx’s metabolism-with-nature ideal of collective control over nature.

Evidence

Adornotakesspecificissuewiththeterm‘metabolismwithnature’–according to which it is necessary to bring nature under ‘collective control instead of being dominated by it as a blind power; accomplishing it with the least expenditure of energy and in conditions most worthy and appropriate for their human nature’. He ‘cannot positively accept’ it, as for him, ‘[a] society is first humane when it no longer stands under the law of metabolism’. Here, ‘metabolism’ means the social deterioration of nature, the social process which is ‘neither purely social nor purely natural’ but rather ‘an exchange between man and nature – a permanent interaction between the two’. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1289

Categorization

• DEFINE: Adorno’s distinctive rejection of the Marxist ‘metabolism with nature’ category is defined here — a society free of the law of metabolism, not one achieving control over it.
• XREF: Connects to earlier readings of Marx’s metabolism concept and to the general revisionist thesis that Adorno’s ‘pessimistic’ stance toward nature-control is often misread. — connects to: Adorno rejects mastery of nature as progress because domination entangles humanity in nature — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1585; Adorno and Horkheimer rejected total identity with nature as regressive stasis — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 803; Adorno’s Marxism was orthodox yet he openly contradicted Marx himself. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1613

Broader Connections

• Adorno rejects mastery of nature as progress because domination entangles humanity in nature #expands (0.82) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1585
• Adorno and Horkheimer rejected total identity with nature as regressive stasis #expands (0.75) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 803