Adorno’s habit of ruling out rival readings foreclosed any empirical testing of his assumptions

Evidence

The fact that many people whistle distorted forms of tunes they are familiar with was, for Adorno, equivalent to children mistreating their pet dogs. The equally obvious possibility that this might be a matter of variation on a theme, or a disrespectful way of exploiting what was familiar for one’s own purposes, he did not consider worth mentioning. Thus the idea of testing his suppositions empirically could simply not arise. Adorno’s texts are full of similar cases. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 267

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Frames the recurring vulnerability of negative dialectics: its interpretive closure structurally precludes falsification, a critique with wide implications for critical theory as a method.
• ADDENDUM: Supports the reader’s existing note on Adorno’s retreat from empirical research in the Frankfurt School history.
• XREF: connects to: Adorno concluded important matters cannot be approached empirically — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2119; Adorno rejected empirical research criticism despite its validity — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1012; Adorno’s distanced theorizing is as questionable as unreflective empirical research — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 268 (+4 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Adorno concluded important matters cannot be approached empirically — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2119; Adorno rejected empirical research criticism despite its validity — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1012; Adorno’s distanced theorizing is as questionable as unreflective empirical research — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 268 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Adorno never abandoned the ideal of critical empirical research despite rejecting established methods #complicates (0.79) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2120
• Adorno’s distanced theorizing is as questionable as unreflective empirical research #complicates (0.74) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 268