Theodor W. Adorno on the embodiment of the ban on images : an introduction

The paper is a commentary on Elizabeth Pritchard’s essay Bilderverbot Meets Body in Theodor W. Adorno’s Inverse Theology. The ban on images is examined in the light of Adorno’s treatment of the character and role of the body. The link between Bilderverbot and the body, in context of social relationships, defines the form of the Other’s subjectivity. Pritchard criticizes Adorno’s claim that hidden theology influences the emancipatory praxis. He makes his theory universal by resigning from reconciliation and focusing on the relationships between authority, ideology, and suffering. However, the ban of images is supposed to reverse the picture of reconciliation in favor of the status quo. The connection between Bilderverbot and the body also determines the content and meaning of a new categorical imperative in Adorno, which relies on giving carnality its proper place in emancipatory discourse. I conclude that the relationship between tradition and critical emancipation finds the need to constantly request for possibility of reconciliation in social realms without anticipating it.