Between Philosophy and Social Science: Selected Early Writings

by Max Horkheimer, G.Frederick Hunter (Translator), Matthew S. Kramer (Translator)

Max Horkheimer is well known as the director of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research and as a sometime collaborator with Theodor Adorno, especially on their classic Dialectic of Enlightenment. These essays reveal another side of Horkheimer, focusing on his remarkable contributions to critical theory in the 1930s.

Included are Horkheimer's inaugural address as director of the Institute, in which he outlines the interdisciplinary research program that would dominate the initial phase of the Frankfurt School, his first full monograph, and a number of other pieces published in the 1930s. The essays, most of which have not appeared in English before, are surprisingly relevant to current post-philosophy debates, notably "On the Problem of Truth," with its focus on pragmatism, and "The Rationalism Debate in Current Philosophy," a sustained critique of the post-Cartesian philosophy of consciousness. Horkheimer's 1933 critique of Kantian ethics, "Materialism and Morality," is of particular interest given the current reaction to the neo-Kantian aspect of Habermas's work. There are also essays relevant to the current foundations debate within Continental philosophy, and the rationality/relativism question is sustained throughout the volume.

Genres: Philosophy, Sociology, Theory

440 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Max Horkheimer (1895–1973) was a leader of the so-called “Frankfurt School,” a group of philosophers and social scientists associated with the Institut für Sozialforschung (Institute of Social Research) in Frankfurt am Main. Horkheimer was the director of the Institute and Professor of Social Philosophy at the University of Frankfurt from 1930–1933, and again from 1949–1958. In between those periods he would lead the Institute in exile, primarily in America. As a philosopher he is best known (especially in the Anglophone world), for his work during the 1940s, including Dialectic of Enlightenment, which was co-authored with Theodor Adorno. While deservedly influential, Dialectic of Enlightenment (and other works from that period) should not be separated from the context of Horkheimer's work as a whole. Especially important in this regard are the writings from the 1930s, which were largely responsible for developing the epistemological and methodological orientation of Frankfurt School critical theory. This work both influenced his contemporaries (including Adorno and Herbert Marcuse) and has had an enduring influence on critical theory's later practitioners (including Jürgen Habermas, and the Institute's current director Axel Honneth).

Reviews

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was only required to read a few essays from this book for a graduate independent study I'm doing, but overall Horkheimer is a clear author. In general this book is a discussion of the foundational structure of critical theory and social philosophy. Overall it reads as applied historical materialism, with an attempt to add some normative oomph to Marxian class critique. Definitely a good book to get your feet, before diving into the more abstruse works of the Frankfurt School, be it first generation, second, or third.

[Yi Shen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of Horkheimer's early essays. They are very readable (if you are somewhat familiar with continental thought) and are filled with wonderful insights. A must read for those who are interested in critical theory.