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Henry Pickford

Professor of German Studies
German Studies
PO Box 90256, 116K Old Chem, Durham, NC 27708
Department of Germanic Languag, Box 90256, Durham, NC 27708

Overview


Henry W. Pickford’s (Ph.D. Comparative Literature and Philosophy, Yale Universiy.; MA, Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh) research interests focus on modern philosophy and literature in German and Russian, with emphasis on the German philosophical tradition from Kant to Critical Theory. He is the author of The Sense of Semblance: Philosophical Analyses of Holocaust Art (Fordham University Press); Thinking with Tolstoy and Wittgenstein: Emotion, Expression and Art (Northwestern University Press; Russian translation with Academic Studies Press); co-author of In Defense of Intuitions: A New Rationalist Manifesto (Palgrave Macmillan); co-editor of Der aufrechte Gang im windschiefen Kapitalismus: Modelle kritischen Denkens (Springer Verlag); editor and translator of Theodor W. Adorno, Critical Models: Interventions and Catchwords (Columbia University Press) and Selected Early Poems of Lev Loseff (Spuytenduyvil Press); and author of over thirty articles and book chapters. He is currently co-authoring the book Adorno: A Critical Life and co-editing the Oxford Handbook to Adorno, and editing and translating selections from Adorno’s notebooks for Verso Press. He has a secondary appointment in Duke's Philosophy department.

Office Hours


Thursdays, 18:00 - 19:00, and by appointment.
Please email to make appointment.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Professor of German Studies · 2021 - Present German Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Professor of Philosophy · 2021 - Present Philosophy, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Recent Publications


Reason and Self-Reflection in Dialectic of Enlightenment

Journal Article Berlin Journal of Critical Theory · July 1, 2025 This essay addresses two influential interpretations of Dialectic of Enlightenment. Habermas’s charge of ‘performative contradiction’ is shown to rely on a particular understanding of the exercise of reason. The alternative interpretation of Dialectic as a ... Cite

Adorno and the categories of resistance

Journal Article Constellations · June 2024 Full text Cite

Life, Logic, Style: On Late Wittgenstein

Chapter · 2023 In addition to explaining what "literary Wittgensteinianism" is, it provides a point of entry into the chapters of this volume by explaining the basic difference between the "early" and "late" Wittgenstein and how each has ope ... Full text Cite
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Education, Training & Certifications


Yale University · 2001 D.Phil.

External Links


academia.edu webpage