Theodor Adorno’s outlook upon and analysis of complex, industrialised societies of the Twentieth Century typically provokes powerful reactions amongst those who have the patience and commitment required for any prolonged engagement with the deliberately alienating style of one of Germany’s leading social philosophers. As is well known, Adorno presents a characteristically bleak vision of the development of humankind. For him, the Holocaust as epitomised by Auschwitz should not be perceived as some horrific aberration of humanity, but as a veritable manifestation of a civilisation dedicated to overcoming all boundaries. For Adorno, the drive towards securing the sovereignty of humanity over the material domain entails the elimination of all that might serve to impose limits and constraints upon our pursuit of the possible. For Adorno, the technological development of the Twentieth Century was effected through an attempt to master nature and a corresponding conversion of all value and...