Theodor Adorno, philosopher: "Private property no longer belongs to anyone, but one must have possessions if one does not want to sink into dependence"

Many authors, philosophers, and economists have spoken throughout history about the benefits and drawbacks of private property and public property. However, there is a school of thought that cannot explain what public property is without relating it to private property, and vice versa.

For Theodor Adorno , one cannot be understood without the other, and he explains this in his 1951 book ‘Minima Moralia’, : “The key is to keep in mind, and to express, that private property no longer belongs to anyone , in the sense that consumer goods have potentially become so abundant that no individual has the right to cling to the principle of their limitation; but that, nevertheless, one must possess, if one does not want to fall into the dependence and need that blindly perpetuate property relations” .

Adorno follows Marxist-inspired critical theory, but defends the need for private property

In this sentence, Adorno explains that private property comes to an end as it had been known up to that point. Property is no longer only the concept of private property, but of the autonomy that it grants to people.

However, he is aware that this idea of private property continues to subject some people to having nothing, and others to having a great deal , although it is one of the reasons why he disdains private property from the moment when the needs of all people can be met.

But it cannot be denied, since a person needs a degree of private property in order to be independent, and not remain always subordinate to another. If a person has no possession, the individual becomes subject, according to Adorno.

In this way, Adorno is neither defending the absolute elimination nor the absolute defense of property; he is saying that property should cease to be an instrument of domination, while remaining a condition of personal freedom.