Notes on individual and consciousness in Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno

This article discusses the materialistic bases of the concept of individual and consciousness according to the thinkers Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno. Therefore, it brings the analysis of the object of psychology, the individual, through the journey of his material movement under his different expressions in history, and, with this, presents some considerations on consciousness from the perspective of the Critical Theory of Society. In this sense, it seeks to highlight the relationships between the object of sociology and psychology, recalling that society contains in its determinations, as potentiality, the movement of the particulars to the establishment of a fair whole, ensuring universality; a way from which the individual may differentiate and constitute himself in a pacified way. According to the analysis undertaken, through the investigation of the material evidence that engender the individual in history, one can understand consciousness as a social self-consciousness, that is, socially determined and expression of the formation for autonomy.

Source: Psicologia USP - July 10, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research