The Neutralization of Ugliness and the Birth of Art: Revisiting the Neglected Aesthetic Chapter of Adorno’s Critique of the Aufklärung

While the concept of Aufklärung plays a central role in understanding Adorno’s critique of modern society, it does not seem to fulfil a similar function when examining major trends in the scholarship on Adorno’s art theory, with discussions usually revolving around commodification, autonomy, and reification. This paper addresses this gap by making a case for the philosophical reinvestigation of the neglected, albeit central, aesthetic chapter of Adorno’s critique of the Aufklärung. Drawing on the Sirens episode from Homer’s Odyssey, as interpreted by Horkheimer and Adorno in Dialectic of Enlightenment, I argue that a proper understanding of Adorno’s theory regarding the birth of art provides meaningful insights for reflecting on the traditional appraisal of the concept of ugliness in the European aesthetic tradition. In turn, the philosophical fate of ugliness, which closely follows that of myth and nature (which is also that of Homer’s Sirens) in the rationalized world, informs us about the enlightened nature of aesthetics as a modern discipline that holds a significant place in the broader process of disenchanting the world.