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Southern Illinois University

An Adornoesque Ethics: The Problem of Damaged Life

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The problem that my dissertation addresses is the connection between modern reason and the ethical failures of modernity. My project is centered against the background of Enlightenment reason's project of rationalization, from which I argue that modern conceptions of ethics are problematic because they involve an abstraction from the reality of suffering individuals. I take up Adorno's response to this problematic and show that ethical reflection needs to be restored to the physical world of particulars in their damaged state. Philosophically, I press the need to reflect on ethical conditions and the values of our moral theories. My overall objective is to show how an Adornoesque ethics can position us in a critical and resistant mode of thinking within actual sites of suffering and damage in late modern conditions.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Doctor of Philosophy
Level thesis:degree_level
Campus Only Dissertation
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Philosophy
Year
2014

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Wilburn, Heather
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Beardsworth, Sara

Subjects

dc:subject × 6

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/863
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:opensiuc.lib.siu.edu:dissertations-1866

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Southern Illinois University
Base URL
opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Wilburn, Heather. An Adornoesque Ethics: The Problem of Damaged Life. Campus Only Dissertation thesis, 2014. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/863