Ensayo, teoría crítica y dialéctica en T.W. Adorno: Caracterización "ejemplo" y problemática didáctica*

Abstract

With this essay, it is my purpose to contribute to the reflection on the type of text said to be the most widely used around the world, the essay. To do so, I concentrate in views expressed by German thinker T.W. Adorno.

Firstly, I expose the main features of this kind of text according to the author of the Frankfurt School. Secondly, I refer to two closely related notions in this author: the notions of critical theory and dialectics; and finally, I outline the didactical implications that this notion may involve. I will focus on the following Adorno's texts: "The Essay as Form," "The Idea of Natural History," "Cultural Criticism and Society" and Negative Dialectics. Adorno characterizes the essay as a "genre" the features of which are autonomy, the celebration of the individual and the critical spirit; its configuration will resemble that of a musical composition.