Demanding one be both a person and an individuality imposes an impossible instinctual demand

Evidence

Nowhere has more been expected of humanity in relation to its instincts than in the suggestion that one ought to be immediately both a person and an individuality. We therefore find the portrayal of what is, once again, very extensive conventionalization and social standardization in sexual matters quite easily reconciled with the conviction that this fact alone offers a new opportunity for intellect, culture and morality to achieve a freshly compelling quality with regard to human sexuality. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2470

Categorization

• DEFINE: Captures the Frankfurt School’s dialectic of person vs. individuality as an impossible demand on instinctual life.
• XREF: connects to: Solitary instincts conflict with the gregarious self-interest required for society — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2471; Individuality cannot escape the social system because its inner essence already embodies that system; Foisting uniqueness on everyone is itself a cruel status demand — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 298 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Solitary instincts conflict with the gregarious self-interest required for society #expands (0.83) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2471
• Individuality cannot escape the social system because its inner essence already embodies that system #exemplifies (0.80)