Abstract

The aesthetic works of the Frankfurt School have hardly received attention by contemporary sociology. However, this paper shows the relevance of aesthetic theory for the critical understanding of the social world. For this purpose, we discuss the contradictions raised by the critical theory of society, especially after Auschwitz, and we reflect on how to conceive the inconceivable when the tools of the Enlightenment are intrinsically guilty. Finally, we propose the mosaic of the aesthetic sociology of disrespect as a possibility to overcome the paradoxes of Auschwitz. This procedure is related to the artistic production about the concentration camp of Buchenwald.