Adorno and negative dialectics: The case of feminist religious agency

Adorno is a complex philosopher whose ‘negative dialectics’ can serve as an antithesis to simplistic constructions of knowledge in which subject and object can be known and defined. Adorno’s philosophy can appear opaque and difficult to parse through for an account of feminist identity theory that can navigate between universalism and particularity. However, some feminists have found inspiration in the application of Adorno’s theory of non-identity to push for an approach to identity in which they are not reduced to difference. To outline the relevance and applicability of Adorno’s negative dialectics to feminist analysis, I will first expound on the specific themes of his ethical theory that are pertinent to feminist methodology, broadly speaking, and religious feminist agency, in particular. Specifically, I will show his emphasis on multiplicity through the idea of constellational thinking, and his emphasis on responsibility through mechanisms of circular checks on privilege and action as a part of negative dialectics. Then I will show how Adorno’s identity theory contains within itself a dialectical approach from above – with an eye to concretizing theory in reality – but also from below – through a direct connection with mental experience and subjectivity. In the end, I sketch the applicability of this theory for politics with textual evidence and examples. Finally, I will show how some feminist theorists have found Adorno’s philosophy useful for their cause and have applied his theory in different ways. After this there will be a section describing the literature on postcolonial religious agency and how Adorno’s theory can be a useful touchstone in feminist efforts to add more multiplicity and responsibility within its theorizations.