German · 1903–1969
Theodor W. Adorno was a philosopher, sociologist, musicologist, and cultural critic — the most intellectually versatile member of the Frankfurt School. With Horkheimer, he wrote Dialectic of Enlightenment; on his own, Minima Moralia, Negative Dialectics, and Aesthetic Theory. His critique of the culture industry and his insistence that authentic art must resist easy consumption remain among the most challenging and influential ideas in modern aesthetics.