The interpretation of Adorno's philosophy I offer here is shaped by two problems: the problem of the availability of the good, which bears on Adorno's ethics and social theory, and the problem of the consistency of Adorno's ethics with the central tenets of his philosophical negativism. I show that there is a way of construing the relation between the ineffable and the ethical in Adorno's philosophy, which provides an account of the availability of the good that is compatible with his philosophical negativism. Naturally this is not a freestanding argument. It is an interpretation, one that is constrained by what I consider to be the most important, central and characteristic claims of Adorno's philosophy. The ancillary aim of this article is to take issue with a prevalent line of interpretation maintaining that Adorno's philosophy needlessly embraces paradox and aporia and thus lapses into irrationalism and mysticism. 1 This charge seems to be premised on a similarity between Adorno's philosophical negativism and negative theology. Unlike many defenders of Adorno I do not deny that there is a similarity between a certain kind of negative theology and Adorno's philosophical concern with the ineffable. Properly understood, it throws light on his solution to the problem of the availability of the good. I do deny, however, that Adorno's negativism leads to any philosophically disreputable form of irrationalism or mysticism.
