نوشین شاهنده

Adorno's conception about the roles that art can play in various areas of human's life is absolutely different from the dogmatic thoughts of the traditional culture and philosophy. According to Adorno, the most important function of art consists in its "critical" approach and "redemptionary" character for analyzing and criticizing the structures of domination and suppression in the society. Hence, Adorno's emphasis on the critical theory of art and its role in transforming social consciousness relies on what he calls the "truth content" of art and artwork. Adorno's main motivation for questioning the relation of "art" and "truth" goes back to the social role of art and the epistemological function it would have. In this paper, some of Adorno's central ideas and notions, regarding the "truth content" theme, especially in his Aesthetic Theory will be discussed.

Mimesis plays an important role in Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory and permeates through the book. If only two concepts are to be figured out in the book, they will be the “content of the truth of art work” and “mimesis”. Avoiding the traditional use and understanding of the latter, Adorno tries to renew the power of mimesis in art and life. He uses mimesis to criticize the structures of suppression and hegemony in Enlightenment and modern thinking. This essay discusses the concept of mimesis in Adorno’s thoughts from three points of view: dialectical relationship between mimesis and reason; mimesis as the subject-object dialectic; mimesis and its connections with expression.