In this episode of pplpod, we dive into the life and complex philosophy of Theodor W. Adorno, a leading member of the Frankfurt School of critical theory. We trace Adorno’s journey from his early years as a musical prodigy and student of Alban Berg in Vienna to his flight from Nazi Germany, which led to a fifteen-year exile in Oxford, New York, and Los Angeles,,.

Join us as we explore Adorno’s most significant intellectual contributions and controversies, including:

• The Dialectic of Enlightenment: How Adorno collaborated with Max Horkheimer in California to write a critique of rationality and the "destructive aspect of progress," including their famous analysis of the "culture industry".

• The Culture Industry & Standardization: Adorno’s argument that mass media and popular culture manipulate the population into passivity, using "standardization" and "pseudo-individualization" to maintain capitalist power,.

• The Authoritarian Personality: His pioneering psychological study on the traits that make individuals susceptible to fascist propaganda and anti-Semitism,.

• Musical Controversies: Adorno's championing of the avant-garde twelve-tone technique and his infamous, scathing critiques of jazz and Stravinsky, which he viewed as part of the commodified culture industry,.

• Return to Germany & Student Protests: His influential role in post-war German culture, his famous dictum regarding poetry after Auschwitz, and the dramatic clashes with student protesters in 1969 that marred his final months,,,.

From Minima Moralia to Negative Dialectics, discover how Adorno sought to understand how life could be more than just a "struggle for self-preservation",.