Paper Discussing the Similarities Between the Philosophy of Adorno And Buddhism
Adorno’s Path of Enlightenment
Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) was a sociologist, psychologist, musicologist, and one of the foremost thinkers in the 20th century; he developed a critical theory of society and aesthetic values of art.[1] A leading member of the Frankfurt School, Adorno used the writings of Freud, Marx, and Hegel, in collusion with contemporary thinkers such as Herbert Marcuse, Max Horkheimer, and Walter Benjamin, to critique modern society and its values.[2] Adorno lived and wrote both before, during, and after WWII, arguably one of the most influential and controversial points in intellectual history.
A Jewish intellectual, Adorno witnessed first hand the problems totalitarian societies in which extremist behavior becomes the norm. This prompted Adorno to attempt in his aesthetic writings such as Minia Moralia to guide readers toward different autonomous ways of thought in order to avoid the pack-mentality found in both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.[3] Adorno endeavored to create a practice of questioning in his readership (rather than a blind acceptance of an idea) by intentional incongruity in his writing, thereby creating a calculated tension in the writing to engage the readers questioning.[4]
However, despite his intentions and efforts Adorno was extremely pessimistic towards the ability of individuals to overcome the societal indoctrination and the culture industry. This pessimism is due to the enthusiasm and almost blind acceptance with which individuals in both the Nazi government and the Soviet Revolution embraced extre
mist ideas and policies. Adorno’s thoughts partially reflect the existential idea of the individual’s importance of autonomous choice in all aspects of life.
Buddhism, a religion and a philosophy, which developed between the 4th and 6th century BC by Siddhartha Gautama, has been recognized by individuals as a sincere daily practice by which one can give meaning to life and experience.[5] In modern history this ancient practice, due to the colonization of India and through the interest of groups such as the Theosophical society and the curiosity of intellectuals such as the Jungle Book author Rudyard Kipling, Buddhism has become influential in society as an alternative to traditional Christianity and its offshoots.[6]
This interest and practice is due to its long existence and the perceived “enlightenment” that practitioners develop and enjoy, separate or unknown to its western religious counterparts.[7] In modern American society, Buddhism has become associated with the actions and lives of its well known practitioners such as Mathieu Ricard, Mahatma Gandhi, and the Dali Lama.[8] Thus, Buddhism is now seen as a realistic practice and personal philosophy rather than a religious doctrine or philosophy, by which individuals attempt to give meaning to their lives.
Interestingly, Adorno’s writings in Minia Moralia unintentionally reflect a understanding of Buddhist practice and basic ideology. Adorno’s goal of enticing the individual to self-reflection of his life and choices in order to avoid similar events to those in WWII, is comparable to the Buddhist practice of attention in developing self-awareness and ending dukkha, a sense of dissatisfaction or suffering, in order to lead to Nirvana. This connection to Buddhism thereby gives Adorno’s writing credence as an encompassing description of human nature and actions seen through the lens of the culture industry. Like Buddhism, Adorno’s writings should thus be continued to be studied as they demonstrate the human condition despite the changes in economic, social, intellectual or aesthetic interest. In this essay, I intend to expound on my understanding of the unintentional connections between Adorno’s theories on modern life, the culture industry, and aesthetic art and basic root ideology and understanding of Buddhist practice as a way to demonstrate the continued validity of Adorno’s thesis and writings.
Samsara, Politics, and the Culture Industry
To begin, the basic underlying concept that is expounded upon in Adorno’s Minia Moralia is the societal need for individuals to develop habits of intellectual reflection and questioning toward all aspects of daily life. Adorno reflects that this habit in modern industrial society has almost been entirely put aside, to be replaced by a socially cultivated acceptance of certain practices, ideas, or desires beneficial to the existing society; the art connected with this trend is kitsch. Because of this, societal evolution has stagnated to be replaced by a cycle of the same desires, practices, ideas that are merely “wrapped” differently. Like a substandard present, these ideas have been merely “regifted” to society in a different form, leader, movement, etc… and have been accepted by a psychologically frustrated yet grateful population. This suggestion of “recycling” of ideas and practices is similar to the Buddhist idea of Samsara, or the cycle of death and rebirth that occurs until an individual reaches Nirvana, or enlightenment.[9] Each rebirth fundamentally reflects the life, which had occurred previously, in which individuals who committed bad acts are reborn at a lower station in their Dharma cycle and vice versa.[10]
To Adorno, informed by Marx’s economic theories, the driven capitalistic system of the United States and Western Europe following WWII appeared very similar to the carefully controlled economies of both the communist Soviet Union and the Nazi fascist government. Thus, the extremist right nationalist group (the Nazis and Mussolini’s black shirts) and the ultra left communist politics were merely replaced with a similarly driven capitalist system, which manipulated society and politics to sustain itself.[11] Adorno demonstrated that the capitalist system had created a Samsara through the culture industry in the societies of the countries it resided, with the United States as the most prominent example.
The culture industry demonstrates this recycling and drive to preserve the status quo, socially, culturally, economically and politically in the form of kitsch demonstrated in art, film, and culture. In the Palace of Janus, Adorno states that,
The dual nature of progress, which always developed the potential of freedom simultaneously with the reality of oppression, gave rise to a situation where people were more and more inducted into the control of nature and social organization, but grew at the same time, owing to the compulsion under which culture placed them, incapable of understanding in what way culture went beyond such integration.[12]
This suggests that even as individuals are becoming more “free,” society is simultaneously limiting them through continuous exposure to self-reinforcing ideology and art.[13] This creates in effect an oppression of the individual, even as they created the feeling of being free. Simultaneously, the continuous repression created by the culture industry slowly generates in the individuals in a society the inability to even recognize their own enslavement to the system and ideology.[14] The system thus becomes a self-perpetuating practice, a Samsara; individuals believe that their actions and choices are independent and autonomous but in actuality they are mere confirmation for the society. Like Adorno’s later philosophical contemporary Foucault, action against the system is merely a verification of the ideology and practices.[15] It is difficult to express an ideology without reference to that which is already known, thereby questioning and verifying the society that is being examined.
This idea of Samsara in Adorno’s works, or the continuation of ideas and practices in society, is further examined in the Palace of Janus, “The mass society did not first produce the trash for the consumers, but the consumers themselves…”[16] This suggests that the continuation of delusions through representations of films, literature, and art is at the desire of the individuals themselves.[17] Like the Samsara, which only continues for the individual soul as long as they continue practices that lead them away from enlightenment, kitsch and the culture industry only survive as long as they are supported by the individuals within the society.
The perpetuation of kitsch and the culture industry is comically portrayed in Connor O’Donnel’s solo performance, Make em’Laugh shown in the 1952 production of Singing in the Rain.
…Make ‘em laugh, Don’t you know everyone wants to laugh?
My dad said be an actor, my son, but be a comical one.
They’ll be standing in lines for those old honky-tonk monkeyshines.
You can study Shakespeare and be quite elite.
You could charm the critics and have nothing to eat.
Just slip on a banana peel and the world’s at your feet…[18]
This Technicolor musical portrayed the struggle of the film industry to meet the desires and expectations of the public, for movies that were similar to what they already knew, while using new technology. As Cosmo demonstrates the public does not want what is elite or unknown, but rather that which they understand, no matter how bawdy or silly. The “suicide of intention,” “he who ‘cracks’ it is rewarded by the admission to the collective of laughers…”[19] This demonstrates the loss of mankind’s intentions to go beyond what they already understand, for fear of becoming the object that is to be ridiculed by the masses.
Thus, the existence of Adorno’s argument against kitsch and the culture industry demonstrates the possibility of individuals breaking from the established norms within society in order to reach a new level of autonomous consciousness and awareness. However, as Adorno pessimistically demonstrates in the point above the culture industry systematically represses this ability, the individual slowly becomes unaware of change and innovation.[20]
Adorno recognizes this change away from awareness toward a socially cultivated intellectual automation in 147 Novissimum organum in Minia Morali.
It has long been demonstrated that wage-labour formed the masses of the modern epoch, indeed created the worker himself. As a general principle the individual is not merely the biological basis but the reflection of the social process; his consciousness of himself as something in itself is the illusion needed to raise his level of performance, whereas in fact the individual function in the modern economy as mere agents of the lay of value. The inner constitution of the individual, not merely his social role, could be deduced from this.[21]
In this passage, Adorno is reflexing a Marxian ideology of dialectical materialism, in that the superstructure is influenced by the modes of production, essentially how a person lives influences how they think.[22] Adorno is separating himself from Marx by suggesting that the cultivation of autonomous thoughts has the potential to influence how people live; thus suggesting that rather than cause and effect society and thoughts develop in two ways.[23] However, Adorno also recognizes that this change in thought toward autonomy is extremely difficult,
Only when the process that begins with the metamorphosis of labour-power into a commodity, has permeated men through and through and objectified each of their impulses as formally commensurable variations of the exchange relationship, is it possible for life to reproduce itself under the prevailing relations of productions…. The will to live finds itself dependent on the denial of the will to live: self-preservation annuls all life in subjectivity.[24]
In this Adorno essentially states that this metamorphosis of labor power has occurred, it is merely its continuation that individuals are following as it has established itself within society.
Thus, as Buddhist practitioners recognize the souls continuation of the Samsara until Nirvana so to does Adorno recognize the continuation of modern culture through politics, the culture industry, and kitsch.
Dukkha and the Continuation of Kitsch
In Buddhism, the continuation of the Samsara occurs due to a lack of attention toward daily life and the continuation of dukkha, or dissatisfaction in life. Dukkha is a sense of dissatisfaction with life, stress, unhappiness, etc…; it is a false creation within the mind. Dukkha is a secondary reaction following an experience and is conditioned by our thoughts and mental habits. Dukkha is considered to be avoidable; this leads me to the question, what does Adorno consider to be the key to the continuation of the culture industry and kitsch?
In Minia Moralia, Adorno demonstrates that the culture industry and kitsch are continued due to the unrealistic expectations created by the artworks, which lead to inherent dissatisfaction with life that is not immediately recognized by the audience. In Intention and Reproduction, Adorno demonstrates that “pseudo-realism” is common within the film industry, “it strives to choose words and gestures in a way that relates them to an idea conferring meaning,” thus separating itself from the true portrayal of reality called for by Zola.[25] Creators fall upon either using psychology or infantilism to express ideas to their audience. Creating a “false humanization” of individuals or events that appeals to the masses. “True intentions would only be possible by renouncing intention. That this and reason are incompatible, that synthesis becomes a lie, stems from the concept of synthesis.”[26] Thus, film creators in order to be successful within the industry, demonstrate to the audience ideas or concepts through the medium. They are manipulating the audience without the audience even being aware, the best propaganda.[27] With this constant influx of expressions and impressed desires, the audience comes to expect a created reality that is separate from “true” reality and become dissatisfied with life.
This practice of creating a false reality is demonstrated again in Adorno’s Minia Moralia in response to both literature and art; all art is burdened by its representational value with the exception of music.[28] Music, due to Adorno’s work with Berg and his admiration of Schoenberg’s atonal composition, is the purist art form because it does not refer directly to the world.[29] In this way, music is able to separate itself from expectations from society and in doing so no longer finds it necessary to present an “alternate reality” to its audience to be accepted. All other forms of art through their representation create meaning and value that exceed their material origins.[30] Thus individuals place enhanced value on an art form because of its perceived meaning making it a greater commodity in capitalist society; thereby perpetuating the culture industry. Similarly, because this art has meaning and value attributed to it, it is perceived to be responding to a basic need or desire however imperfectly. This kitsch thereby creates an addiction, within the minds and desires of the public for which it is created.[31] Individuals create intellectual habits toward support for various culture commodities, based on the assumed fulfillment of a need by the “art.” Because of this, kitsch is continued because it is seen as fulfilling the desires created by the false representation of life in other medias.
In part, this is demonstrated in the multitude of romantic comedy’s found from Adorno’s and his contemporaries time, to the present, such as Audrey Hepburn’s 1952 Sabrina to Leap Year in 2010. This similar love story, seen in hundreds of other romantic films, is a representation of the continuation of the products of the culture industry (Samsara) in response to the unmet desires and expectations of the audience (dukkha).
It is because of this unrealistic expectation created by representational art that Adorno is influenced toward his support of non-representational abstract art. Adorno’s understanding of abstract art is that it could hold no attributed representational meaning for the audience and thus no obvious “value” in the capitalistic market, it is the proposed opposite of kitsch. Adorno does not hold that abstract art is the only alternative to created society; he holds atonal music above abstract art.[32] Rather, abstract art is something which Adorno can direct his audience’s attention to in his pursuit to counteract totalitarian thought and practice; Adorno presents abstract art as a potentiality but not as the “truth” or the solution to the problem. In his statement,
Art, which even in its position to society remains a part of it, must close its eyes and ears to it: it cannot escape the shadow of irrationality. But when art itself appeals to the unreason, making it a raison d’etre it converts its own malediction into a theodicy…
Adorno demonstrates the almost hypocrisy in this art and how only through its human interaction can it become a tool to move away from the culture industry, and established socio-economic thought.[33]
Abstract art essentially presents a wall to the Buddhist ideology of dukkha in that it is something unknown to human experience during this time; conceptions of the art did not create expectations in the audience about their lives or dissatisfaction. Thus, lessening its value as a commodity while presenting an alternative to the system.[34] Adorno’s work would later influence the art critic Clement Greenberg to support artists such as Jackson Pollock and develop his theory of Formalism.[35]
The Need for Self-Reflection and Attention – A Coming to Awareness
According to Buddhist philosophy, dukkha, that which causes pain or dissatisfaction with life, can be avoided by an individuals attention to experiences and self-reflection of habits and thoughts.[36] This leads to an understanding of the causation of pain and a recognition of an individuals’ influence in creating it.[37] Through self-reflection, individuals begin to break the mental habits that continue Samsara which will eventually lead to Nirvana. This ideology presents a basic human practice of habit and mental self-creation of misery that is mirrored in Adorno’s writings which declare the dissatisfaction and pain, dukkha, that individuals unknowingly inflict upon themselves in the form of kitsch and the culture industry, as resultant from lack of self-reflection and awareness of one’s actions. Adorno presents abstract art and music, as an example of practices contrary to the culture industry, which as separate entities almost startle the individual into outside thought.
In Minia Moralia, Adorno assists that the dangers of kitsch come from its ability to create unmet expectations about life, as demonstrated above. Also, kitsch is dangerous because of its continued support of the ideologies of society through the culture industry, which maintains the status quo regardless of its values or events. In Vandals in Minia Moralia, Adorno describes how the “haste, nervousness, restlessness” often found in big cities has spread throughout societies, to the point where individuals feel that they need to schedule even their leisure time with projects and training to be valuable to society.[38] Societal power and prestige is recognized in individuals who have the most pressure and responsibilities; literally creating a societal mindset in which time necessary for self-reflection is considered negative or lazy.[39] Individuals fear that, “If one does not take part, and that means, if one does not swim boldly in the human stream, on fears, as when delaying to long to join a totalitarian party, missing the bus and bringing on oneself the vengeance of the collective.”[40] Thus, individuals attempt to stand out only through proscribed societal values and actions, strengthening their allegiance to the system even as they seek to stand out.
It is for this practice of cultural self-defense that Adorno highlights in the Sacrificial Lamb the benefits of dictation. Through discussion and explanation of one’s values, others can point out the “contradiction, irony, nervosity, impatience, and disrespect” of one’s statements and ideas. It is a forced self-reflection through the medium of another person.[41] In this way, Adorno demonstrates that the process of self-reflection does not necessarily have to come through art or music, rather these are tools which can be made separate from society.
In In nuce, Adorno suggests that works of art are “sprung” from fetishes.[42] Fetishes, are a Freudian concept used to describe the misplacement of the desires of the Id which are generally considered inappropriate by a society.[43] Because of this, art is generated from values which are outside the society and the culture industry. “True art” like music, stands outside the this industry and as such cannot even be expressed accurately through language as language itself, as demonstrated through literature, has been sublimated to the values of the culture industry and the sustenance of the status quo.[44] Thus, art, particularly Avant-garde abstract non-representational art, provides a moment of self-reflection for the audience that facilitates a habit of conscious awareness of experience. Like the practice of the dictation, through enforced reflection, no matter how short, the individual becomes aware of his or her own abilities and choices; a practice which is lessened in the culture industry through the habit of self-gratification and identification through objects. It is a tool from which an individual can obtain habits of self-reflection and awareness. This is similar to Buddhist practices of meditation, which promotes a heightened awareness of every moment and experience so as to determine the cause and effect relationship of actions.[45]
Adorno postulates that through self-reflection and autonomous thinking, the individual can develop mental habits which will make him or her aware of the cause and effect actions of both the culture industry in society and the continuation of unhealthy desires, practices, or beliefs because of the system. By becoming aware the individual is essentially able to make habits that have the potential of changing how individuals live through thoughts and actions as opposed to solely changes in the material base.[46] Art thereby offers emancipation, socially and conceptually, through study and analysis.[47]
However, art is not the panacea for society problems inherent in the culture industry; Adorno demonstrates in Addressee Unknown demonstrates that cultivated philistines, the individuals created by the culture industry and influenced on a base level by the “easy” ideology found in works, such as socialist realism, will renounce the challenging aspects and the time for reflection by a simply stating a lack of understanding.[48] This eliminates opposition to the system and in its renunciation debases the art, allowing it to be simplified by the masses and adopted into the Samsara of the culture industry as a commodity that individuals self-righteously categorize it as something which they are free to “choose or refuse,” thereby strengthening the false belief of an individualistic society.[49]
The Autonomy of Thought and Nirvana the Way to Enlightenment
According to Buddhist ideology, the cessation of Samsara is obtained by reaching Nirvana, or Enlightenment when all that is known becomes true. Nirvana can only be reached through the cessation of dukkha and the self-awareness and attention of the individual. This raises the question of what is “Enlightenment” according to Adorno, and how would it ultimately result in the cessation of the culture industry and kitsch?
According to Adorno, the individual can be freed from the culture industry through autonomous thought and decisions separate from society. This autonomy and separation is important, not only for the mind of the individual, but also for the prevention of further intellectual pack-mentality witnessed by Adorno in the fascist governments of the Nazis and Mussolini’s Black Shirts, and the communist government of the Soviet Union. The self-sustaining apparatus of the culture industry is thus both its most powerful and dangerous aspect because it supports not only itself, but the society, political ideology, and leaders which create it.
For Adorno, like in Buddhism, autonomy can only be established through and individual’s own efforts in creating habits to question and evaluate their decisions and life expectations and goals. Adorno suggests that “true art” which brings “chaos into order” through its lack of adherence to societal expectations.[50] According to Adorno, “Art is magic delivered from the lie of being truth;” thus, art is a tool which can be used by individuals to recognize the dissatisfaction in their lives and realize through self-reflection that it is created by false representation and created expectation by the culture industry.[51] Through this realization, it is possible that individuals can recognize the cause and effect nature of their decisions and act contrary to their socially conditioned desires and actions. Through this concentrated effort, the individual has the ability to change the Marxian idea of the base through the superstructure.
This ultimate awareness in Buddhism, leads to a sense of dispassion which could be most closely associated in practice with happiness, a life free from pain. In Adorno’s explanation in Minia Moralia this awareness, and self-reflection would simply be the prevention of later totalitarian regimes and practices. Like Buddhism too, Adorno suggests that this ability is possible in all humans, particularly if they have access to art and culture, which will cause them to question the societal norm. However, Adorno, due to his experiences and observations in WWII and the actions of the Soviet Union, is extremely pessimistic towards the ability to individuals to reach this creation. Through his work, Adorno is attempting to create another avenue through his careful prose for individuals to gain practice in questioning.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Adorno in his writings of Minia Moralia unintentionally represents many of the root practices and beliefs of Buddhism concerning the nature and habits of human beings. This similarity, gives greater credence to the validity of Adorno’s writings as it suggests the continuation of a human condition observed since the 5th century BC. Adorno’s suggestions to overcoming the societal restrictions also unintentionally mimic the practices of well known Buddhism followers such as Dali Lama who are held today as enlightened individuals through their practice. These concrete examples, provide the possibility of accomplishment in Adorno’s ideas to a recognition of the culture industry in society and the ability of individuals to works to change and improve their minds and lives- despite Adorno’s pessimism. Therefore, Adorno’s works should continued to be studied and accepted as an example of the human condition and a suggestion for how to change one’s life and society.
Works Cited:
1. Cazeaux, Clive, ed. The Continental Aesthetics Reader. 2 ed. London: Routledge, 2011.
2. Deyasi, Marco. “Art 302.” University of Idaho, 2012.
3. Deyasi, Marco. “Art 303.” University of Idaho, 2013.
4. Deyasi, Marco. “Continental Theory: Art 508.” University of Idaho, 2013.
5. Emerling, Jae. Theory for Art History. New York: Routledge, 2005.
6. Feldman, Jay. “Buddhism.” University of Idaho, 2013.
7. Publishing, Alfred. Singin' in the Rain- the Deluxe 50th Anniversary Edition (songbook) (piano Vocal Chords). 0050-Anniversary ed.: Alfred Publishing, 2007.
8. Rahula, Walpola. What the Buddha Taught: Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts from Suttas and Dhammapada. Revised ed. ed. New York: Grove Press, 1974.
9. Ricard, Matthieu Happiness: a Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill. Reprint ed.: Little, Brown and Company, 2007.
[1] Emerling, Jae. Theory for Art History. New York: Routledge, 2005, 42.
[2] Ibid
[3] Deyasi, Art 508.
[4] Cazeaux, Clive, ed. The Continental Aesthetics Reader. 2 ed. London: Routledge, 2011, 234.
[5] Rahula, Walpola. What the Buddha Taught: Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts from Suttas and Dhammapada. Revised ed. ed. New York: Grove Press, 1974, 17.
[6] Feldman, Buddhism.
[7] Ibid
[8] Ricard, Matthieu Happiness: a Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill. Reprint ed. Little, Brown and Company, 2007, 28.
[9] Rahula, 176.
[10] Ibid
[11] Deyasi, Art 303.
[12] Cazeaux, 240.
Italicized words are included for emphasis.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Deyasi, Marco. “Continental Theory: Art 508.” University of Idaho, 2013
[15] Ibid.
[16] Cazeaux, 241.
[17] ibid
[18] Publishing, Alfred. Singin' in the Rain- the Deluxe 50th Anniversary Edition (songbook) (piano Vocal Chords). 0050-Anniversary ed.: Alfred Publishing, 2007, 14.
[19] Cazeaux, 237.
[20] Ibid, 240.
[21] Ibid, 253.
[22] Deyasi, Art 508.
[23] Ibid
[24] Cazeaux, 253.
[25] Ibid, 238.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Deyasi, Art 303.
[28] Cazeaux, 235.
[29] Ibid, 247-249.
[30] Ibid, 251.
[31] Ibid, 237.
[32] Cazeaux, 235, 247.
Emerling, 46.
[33] Emerling, 47.
[34] Cazeaux, 251.
[35] Deyasi, Art 303.
[36] Feldman, Buddhism.
[37] Ibid.
[38] Cazeaux, 237.
[39] Ibid.
[40] Ibid, 236.
[41] Ibid, 243.
[42] Ibid, 249.
[43] Deyasi, Art 302.
[44] Cazeaux, 247.
[45] Feldman, Buddhism.
[46] Deyasi, Art 303.
[47] Cazeaux, 234.
[48] Cazeaux, 246.
Emerling, 46.
[49] Cazeaux, 246.
[50] Ibid, 249.
[51] Ibid.