Compare And Contrast Adorno And Lebensphilosophie

It is well known that Deleuze had a negative opinion about comparative philosophy. In his eyes, comparative philosophy represented a certain type of ressentiment and a perverse satisfaction in exposing the contradictions of the other thinker; his method was monographic. 1 Adorno, on the other hand, was opposed to a notion of a Lebensphilosophie in general, holding that any attempt to ground philosophy on a notion of lived experience was nothing but blind self-assertion.2 Undermining the spirit of both of these philosophers, this paper compares the seemingly irreconcilable ways that the these two thinkers view life. While Deleuze 's philosophical and practical philosophy has both individual and collective potential, Adorno 's negative approach …show more content…
This stems from the Heraclitean position that everything is characterized as a conflict between active (affirmative) and reactive (negative) forces. The essence of a force is characterized by its quantitative relationship with other forces, while the will to power is the differential element of force.7 The will to power allows this quantitative difference between forces to emerge and allows for the emergence of the quality of each force.8Active force is the power of acting, while reactive force, is acted upon or obeys the dominant force.9 Active forces are spontaneous, creative and are not tied to the past, while reactive forces solely act within certain terms.The will to power is what affirms this difference between the active and reactive forces; this is what characterizes the master.10 For the slave, reactive forces develop through division and separation until active forces become separated from themselves and what they can do.11For Deleuze and Guattari, this affirmation of difference and will to power is key towards living an affirmative …show more content…
Deleuze and Guattari want to rescue this life, while Adorno looks for the possibility of a life and a world that could be different.26While Deleuze and Guatarri demand the importance of practice, and emphasis on individual ethics and a joyous affirmation of life, Adorno is the penultimate theoretician who emphasizes the social and a life that constantly demands interrogation. Adorno represents the dialectician who considers philosophy to be a labour of thought while Deleuze and Guattari can be seen as Nietzscheans who want to emphasize the difference within univocity. By rejecting the notion of difference within univocity, Adorno can be seen as essentially opposed to Deleuze and