Marco Costantini
Università Roma Tre (marco.costantini@uniroma3.it; ORCID: 0000-0002-7442- 8638).
Abstract: This article explores Adorno’s reflections on animality as a central motif in his critique of Enlightenment. Far from being a mere figure of otherness, animality appears in Adorno’s work as a repressed dimension of spirit that continuously resurfaces, exposing the limits of human self-understanding. Through a critical reconstruction of Adorno’s dialectic of spirit and nature, the article shows how the repression of animal resemblance shapes philosophy, ethics, and aesthetics. Particular attention is given to art and music as privileged spaces in which the memory of nature and the likeness to animals are preserved, offering a fragile image of reconciliation and a utopian anticipation of non-dominating life.
Keywords: Adorno; Animals; Memory; Nature; Utopia.