The claim of freedom in art as an act of spontaneity: a review of Aesthetic Theory and other late texts of Th. W. Adorno

Abstract

The paper analyzes the concept of spontaneity in Theodor W. Adorno’s late work, showing how art is inseparable of freedom itself. The radicalism with which the Frankfurt’s School philosopher contemplates freedom is due to its understanding as an act of spontaneity, in other words, that as a conquest of arbitrariness or pure chance it becomes an act of rebellion or civil disobedience. In short, the relevance that Adorno grants to art in a wide sense in his corpus relies to the fact that it is a field reserved for freedom. It is in his Aesthetic Theory as well as in other late works such as Difficulties and Resignation, among others, where Adorno approaches the concept of spontaneity, though in the first in relation to art, while in the other two related specifically to music. However, the question remains the same, that is, it is in the mentioned disciplines, as long as dedicated to experimentation understood as an act of spontaneity, where freedom makes appearance.

Keywords: spontaneity, freedom, art.