As Adorno argues, the concept does not exhaust the thing conceived, for it always leaves a residuum.[1] According to him, this realization rids dialectics—that is, philosophy in its highest form—of concept fetishism. As I argue after him, the concept of concept itself leaves a residuum of a higher order.[2] The two residua cannot be distinguished from each other. That invalidates his claim that philosophy can be rid of concept fetishism. But the argument can be extended still further. Any conceptual system bringing several concepts together leaves yet another residuum of a higher order, where the residua of each concept forming the system cannot be distinguished from each other. The larger the system, the more difficult it is for philosophy to rid itself of concept fetishism. In turn, the concept of the conceptual system in question leaves a residuum of a still higher order. Once again, the residua of different orders involved cannot be distinguished from each other. And this realization rids thought of philosophy fetishism. In fact, it brings philosophy itself into question.

Footnotes

1. Adorno, T.W., Negative Dialectics, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973 (first published in 1966).

2. Bon, R., “On Adorno’s Over-Enthusiastic Concept of Dialectics,” Residua, Book III, May 5, 1978.