Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged Life

A core belief of Theodor Adorno is that there are universal human experiences that transcend time and cultures, what he calls “the incorrigibility of human nature” (188). It is this human nature that expresses itself through our individualism and our relationship with art. He argues that, in modern capitalist societies, humans are alienated from their own human nature and their own selves, leading to a deterioration of the human experience.

For Adorno, human nature is something profound, with both positive and negative dimensions that can be endlessly explored through philosophy and culture. As he writes, “The great works of art and philosophical constructions have remained uncomprehended not through their great distance from the heart of human experience, but the opposite” (147). By contrast, modern society no longer encourages authentic exploration of the human experience due to the negative influence of industrialization, technology, and capitalism. Humans are treated like machines or tools for increasing profit, or they are encouraged to think only of their own material benefits. This state of affairs ultimately amounts to “treating people as things” (42). In these ways, the “profit economy” serves only to “stunt human qualities” (41).

Modern capitalist societies suppress human nature by causing humans to be alienated from each other.