This book focuses on a central notion in Theodor. W. Adorno's philosophy: the nonidentical. The
nonidentical is what our conceptual framework cannot grasp and must therefore silence the
unexpressed other of our rational engagement with the world. This study presents the
nonidentical as the multidimensional centerpiece of Adorno's reflections on subjectivity truth
suffering history art morality and politics revealing the intimate relationship between how
and what we think. Adorno's work written in the shadow of Auschwitz is a quest for a
different way of thinking one that would give the nonidentical a voice - as the somatic in
reasoning the ephemeral in truth the aesthetic in cognition the other in society. Adorno's
philosophy of the nonidentical reveals itself not only as a powerful hermeneutics of the past
but also as an important tool for the understanding of modern phenomena such as xenophobia
populism political polarization identity politics and systemic racism.
