“'the enormous power of the negative, the energy of thought, of the pure I'—the nonidentity of consciousness with the conditions that otherwise determine it."

Consciousness, insofar as it has substance, as it counts as a consciousness, is a consciousness for others; it bears an inescapably social aspect, which means that a certain noncoincidence with itself is constitutive even in its most inward aspects. Reciprocally, the others that are the substance of the social aspect of consciousness have no immediate sway over the inward movement of the “I,” which, in turn, exerts a negative power over its own social aspect. Negativity, the immanent dissolution of positive identity, is constitutive of consciousness in its social aspect as much as in its inward aspect.

- Autonomy: The Social Ontology of Art Under Capitalism, Nicholas Brown, 2019; Duke University Press, 2019