Adorno saw psychoanalysis as an empirical science completing transcendental philosophy

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. — <cite>Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 990</cite> (#expands`, via linked claim)

As ever, Adorno’s relationship to science was ambivalent. When he criticized science, it often remained unclear whether he really meant (a) the positivist conception of science, (b) the sciences in their existing form (whether or not this form was adequately grasped by positivist scientific theory) or (c) the individual scientific disciplines with their division of labour. On the other hand, this attitude reflected a defence of speculation, of essayistic, independent thinking which, while emphasizing conceptual discipline, was at the very least no further removed from Heidegger’s recollection of Being' than it was from the various methods of scientific research. In contrast to Habermas, much of Adorno's philosophical writing neither took advantage of the results of any particular piece of scientific research, nor included any reflections on the philosophy of science. Philosophical thought became an independent instrument of discovery. — <cite>Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2508</cite> (#complicates`, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Adorno’s 1927 epistemology thesis already contained the Marxist turn against psychoanalysis; Adorno’s free essayistic thought was meant to become empirical knowledge; Adorno conceived theory and empirical research as mutually constitutive via the dialectical method. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 990 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Adorno conceived theory and empirical research as mutually constitutive via the dialectical method. #expands (0.78) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 990
• Adorno’s free essayistic thought was meant to become empirical knowledge #corroborates (0.72)
• Adorno treated philosophy as an independent instrument of discovery rather than applied science #complicates (0.71) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2508