CONTRADICTION, CRITIQUE, AND DIALECTIC IN ADORNO A ...

constraints to bring about the emergence of something new. The explanation of the new
emergence cannot be reduced to tendencies and conditions that were already inscribed in
nature because the new emergence arises from a critical mass of elements coming
together, some of them accidental and external to pre-existing determinations. This is
why history is not just a repetition of the archaic, but rather a changing narrative in which
the archaic mingles with the new and changes its character as a result.
Consider the way in which the qualitatively new arises in the history of the
individual according to psychoanalytic theory. One of the main features of Freudian
theory is that it does not, cannot, and does not aim to answer the question of why a certain
individual falls ill while another individual may not fall ill under the same conditions.
The unconscious and its development, including possible fixations, constrains the
individual’s potentialities for growth, but does not determine the individual’s
development in full. External factors play an important role, as does the reaction of the
individual’s psyche to specific challenges brought on by external reality. Recall for
instance that an individual does not fall ill unless events occur that make it impossible for
her to satisfy her unconscious wishes, fixated as they may be, through relations to
external objects. (I have discussed this point in chapter 5.) External, accidental
happenings come together and their impact on existing conditions and tendencies
sometimes give rise to a new development—for instance, the onset of pathology.
Similarly, the development of pathology in Western civilization is not fully determined as
a metaphysical necessity from the origins of civilization in animism and mythology,
though these origins certainly created a potential that became reinforced with the effect of
contingent historical events. Understanding the moment at which Western civilization
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