Marx conceived history as natural history without endorsing Social Darwinist worldview

Evidence

Social Darwinism, the ‘hopeless rhythm of coming to be and passing away – or of eating and being eaten’, is a rhythm in which ‘[n]othing changes’: ‘The historical link between predator and prey is essentially unhistorical’. In the words of Adorno from one of his seminars, the ‘brilliance of Marx lies in the fact that although he conceives of history as a continuation of natural history, he opposes precisely the condition in which Darwinism becomes elevated to a worldview. His critique of political economy is one of the heteronomous domination of relations of production, a domination from which human beings should liberate themselves’. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1346

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies Adorno’s distinction: history is a continuation of natural history, but this is precisely why Darwinism elevated to worldview must be resisted.
• XREF: Connects to the broader revisionist reading of Adorno as a political-economy critic rather than ‘pessimistic cul-de-sac’ theorist — the reader’s stated purpose. — connects to: Marx’s concept of natural history is critical, not naturalist — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1344; Baptist women’s magazines rejected Social Darwinist claims of black inferiority — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 543; Human history is inseparable from the history of nature, so dialectics cannot exclude nature