Chasing after the Nonconceptual: On Adorno's Essayism as a Philosophical Method

This dissertation thesis thematizes the background, main features and potential of Theodor Adorno's philosophical method marked as essayism. It outlines Adorno9s core philosophical inspiration and convictions which triggered its formation, attempts to identify the main maxims of its composition and poses Adorno9s conception several questions. First, I ask what the relationship between the author and object of the essay is, once Adorno calls for 'preponderance of the object' and 'limitation of the subject'. Second, I inquire about the connection of essayistic thinking with Adorno's call for philosophical affectivity and emotionality, providing an interpretation of his understanding of fantasy. Third, I raise the question of how the essayistic method is supposed to help protect intellectual freedom in the late capitalistic world which, according to Adorno, suppresses it and generally numbs desirable intellectual faculties of individuals. Through that, I hope to provide a plastic image of essayism which would, first, help Adorno's readers to get through his opaque texts and, second, suggest its exceptional intellectual value.