The Dialectic of Enlightenment began as a five-chapter confidential plan in 1942

Evidence

The first chapter (this, of course, is strictly confidential) will deal with the philosophical concept of enlightenment. Enlightenment here is identical with bourgeois thought, nay, thought in general, since there is no other thought properly speaking than in the cities. The main topics are enlightenment and mythology, enlightenment and domination, enlightenment and practice, the social roots of enlightenment, enlightenment and theology, facts and system, enlightenment and its relation to humanism and barbarism. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1310

Categorization

• QUESTION: The original plan’s chapter on enlightenment and theology never appears as such in the final book — worth tracing how the outline transformed into the published Dialectic of Enlightenment.
• XREF: The chapter list is a near-tabular table of contents for the published Dialectic of Enlightenment — enlightenment and mythology, enlightenment and domination, etc. — connects to: Dialectic of Enlightenment originated as a mimeographed 1942-44 typescript stripped of anti-capitalist vocabulary. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1362; Dialectic of Enlightenment began as a provisional fragment collection rather than a finished work — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 741

Broader Connections

• Dialectic of Enlightenment originated as a mimeographed 1942-44 typescript stripped of anti-capitalist vocabulary. #expands (0.90) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1362
• Dialectic of Enlightenment began as a provisional fragment collection rather than a finished work #expands (0.85) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 741