The primacy of the object is fundamental to understanding the reality of the negative dialectic proposed by Adorno. This essay aims to present the main Negative Dialectic as a method of refl ection, as well as its possible contributions to organizational studies. In order to do this there is a need to check how the Negative Dialectics is presented as an "attack" against tradition; as the knowable object is constructed in relation object ↔ subject ↔ object by the principle of non-identity; how appearance and contradiction are elements of refusal to a final totality; how the concept, while elaboration of thought, and categories, as a mode of understanding reality through thought, are evidence of the formation of reality; and how totalitarian systems are formed. With this, it can be seen how the construction of understanding occurs through affi rmative constructions contrary to Negative Dialectics, established on the principle of non-identity. Furthermore, we can understand how so-called organizational studies in general are characterized by epistemological concepts that can be inexhaustible sources of analysis from the perspective of Negative Dialectics.
organizational studies; critical theory; epistemology; negative dialectics; Theodor W. Adorno