Abstract
Adorno presented the “Idea of Natural-History” on July 15, 1932, at a meeting of the Frankfurt chapter of the Kant Society. The society's yearly register, published in its journal Kant-Studien, is an important document. That year its register lists Paul Tillich, who supervised Adorno's inaugural dissertation, as the local director. Along with a variety of details, the society's business address appears as “Horkheimer, Viktoria Allee 17.” A year later the register's column for Frankfurt is blank except under the heading for local directors. There, in parentheses, the ominous takes pains to prove its alliance with discretion: “(Director to be chosen.)“