The Concept of Art's Autonomy in Benjamin and Adorno

Art’s autonomy and its independence from any sort of external aim، is one of the most important concepts rising from the modern art and in a sense، what constitutes the very border between modern and traditional arts. While the Philosophy of art has shown many different positive or negative reactions to the autonomy of art، the present article tries to study and compare two exemplary reactions which belong to Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin. Scholars usually tend to categorize these two thinkers under the rather vague term “the Frankfurt School” and then put the stress on the convergences between their ideas; but in the case of art، as we shall see، Benjamin and Adorno seem somehow divergent. This divergence can on the one hand، help us comprehend the different aspects of modern art and on the other، it can pave the way for a deeper understanding regarding each of these two figures.