Adorno’s critique of immanence aimed at the non-identical, the new, the transcendent

Evidence

Since all Adorno’s criticisms were aimed at producing evidence of immanence', the goal of his critique could only be termed transcendence, or simply: releaseinto the transcendent, into a realm free of intention, into what was new, unrestricted, open, non-identical. The whole of dialectical materialism’ was centred on the potentiality of Novelty,' he wrote in the article on Spengler. Adorno used the concept of the non-identical for the first time in a letter to the article's translator clarifying the meaning of his statement that freedom, considered absolutely, would fall victim to mere existence. He suggested adding the sentence: Freedom postulates the existence of something non-identical.’ In the letter he explained that `The non-identical element must not be nature alone, it also can be man.’ — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1303

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines Adorno’s concept of the non-identical in his own words: that which is not reducible to existing identity, including humanity itself.
• XREF: Adorno’s non-identical connects to his dialectic of enlightenment project and to critical theory’s self-positioning against Hegelian identity thinking. — connects to: Adorno’s immanent critique drove him to a parenthetical theology. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2153; Adorno coined the non-identical as freedom’s postulate, not merely nature; Adorno held that truth is a reflection of a transcendent theological light — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2151 (+7 more)