Adorno's depth realism: A critical realist analysis of negative dialectics

Abstract This article argues that negative dialectics operates within a depth realist framework. Depth realism posits an independent, historically situated, emergent, structured, and differentiated world in which human beings are immersed and with which they interact to preserve or transform. This understanding of the world is explicitly theorized, not by Adorno, but by Roy Bhaskar's depth realism (critical realism). My intention is to firstly highlight the close similarities between Adornoian and Bhaskarian dialectics. Secondly, I highlight some important divergences, especially the deficiencies in Adorno's theory of constellation that stem from his lack of realist theorization, specifically his reliance on concepts that cannot reach beyond a form of subjective idealism. Despite this criticism, I argue that if nonidentity concepts are grasped in the wider context of the basic anthropological materialism or “axial turn” that informs Adorno's thinking, and from which they derive, a case can be made in defense of Adornoian realism. The final two sections explore the implications a depth realist interpretation has for Adorno's understanding of the subject‐object mediation in his social theory, allowing us to move beyond Adorno's famous pessimistic views about the possibilities for political change.