[D66] Adorno, Lectures on Negative Dialectics

[Antid Oto]

 From Theodor Adorno, 2008, Lectures on Negative Dialectics: Fragments 
of a Lecture Course 1965/1966 (Polity), pp8-9.

“I shall say here only that the essence of this model of an antagonistic 
society is that it is not a society with contradictions or despite of 
its contradictions, but by virtue of its contradictions. In other words, 
a society based on profit necessarily contains this division in society 
because of the objective existence of the profit motive. The profit 
motive which divides society and potentially tears it apart is also the 
factor by means of which society reproduces its own existence. To remind 
you of an even crasser fact, likewise by way of illustration, it is 
probably true that today almost the entire economy can be sustained only 
because a very large part of the social product is devoted to the 
production of weapons of mass destruction, in particular nuclear weapons 
and everything connected with them. This holds good in every country, in 
both the capitalist nations and the countries belonging to the Russian 
and Chinese power blocs. This means that the ability of our society to 
withstand crises, an ability that is generally held to be one of its 
finest achievements, is directly linked to the growth in its potential 
for technological self-destruction. I believe that these considerations 
will suffice for the moment to show you how we are compelled from the 
vantage point of objective reality to apply the concept of 
contradiction… immanent contraction…in the object [society – JA] itself."