Adorno conceived theory and empirical research as mutually constitutive via the dialectical method.

Evidence

My theoretical attitude does not incorporate any aversion to empirical research. On the contrary. The concept of `experience’, taken in a very precise sense, is moving closer and closer to the centre of my thinking … There is an interrelationship between theory and empirical research which we call the dialectical method … I am of the opinion that music undergoes certain qualitative changes on radio, which put the perception of it on a completely new basis. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 990

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the dialectical method as the interrelationship between theory and empirical research, central to the Frankfurt School’s methodology.
• XREF: Echoes how the Frankfurt School’s method departs from both naive positivism and pure speculation, relevant to later debates with Popper. — connects to: Adorno sought to repurpose empirical social research for critical theory. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1927; Adorno came to see critical reflection and team-based empirical research as practically irreconcilable — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2114; Methodological experience softened Adorno’s early hostility to American empirical techniques — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 671 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Adorno came to see critical reflection and team-based empirical research as practically irreconcilable #contradicts (0.90) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2114
• Adorno sought to repurpose empirical social research for critical theory. #corroborates (0.85) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1927
• Methodological experience softened Adorno’s early hostility to American empirical techniques #qualifies (0.75) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 671