Adorno, De Martino and the adventures of the self

This article draws a comparison between the theories of Theodor W. Adorno and Ernesto De Martino focusing particularly on two fundamental writings: The Dialectics of Enlightenment (1947) written by Adorno in collaboration with Max Horkheimer and De Martino's The World of Magic (1948). Both texts study the process of constitution of the autonomous subject, capable of controlling his own instincts and of dominating the external nature. The focal point of the article is, however, that both authors also reflect on the fact that the autonomous and rational subjectivity is not an irrevocable achievement: on the contrary, it is constantly exposed to the risk of a return into barbarism and of regression, as the totalitarian experience of the last century has shown.