Freedom and unfreedom form a double bind under identity

Evidence

The subjects are free, after the Kantian model, in so far as they are aware of and identical with themselves; and then again, they are unfree in such identity in so far as they are subjected to, and will perpetuate, its compulsion. They are unfree as diffuse, non-identical nature; and yet, as that nature they are free because their overpowering impulsethe subject’s nonidentity with itself is nothing elsewill also rid them of identity’s coercive character. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2558

Categorization

• DEFINE: The concise statement of Adorno’s dialectics of freedom and unfreedom: identity frees and enslaves, impulse frees through non-identity.
• XREF: connects to: Freedom and situation are mutually constituting rather than opposites — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1164; The given never conditions freedom because freedom is its internal negation — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1160; Situation is the fused double determination of freedom and facticity — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 725 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Freedom and situation are mutually constituting rather than opposites #expands (0.85) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1164
• Situation is the fused double determination of freedom and facticity #corroborates (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 725
• The given never conditions freedom because freedom is its internal negation #contradicts (0.75) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1160
• Freedom and independence are distinct and often mutually exclusive #qualifies (0.72) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 824