Critical Theory justified itself through hidden theology rather than a critique of language.

Evidence

But although this idea was central to the Dialectic of Enlightenment and to Adorno’s work, it was not intended to be a strict negation of a claim to truth and reason that had its roots in language. Language’s claim to truth and reason was not the central point from which Critical Theory fed. … They may have rejected it because to argue on the basis of a demand, based in language, for truth and for an association of free human beings seemed to Horkheimer to be too idealistic. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 534

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The entire justification problem of Critical Theory — how a theory can claim truth without an absolute ground — is compressed into the choice between a linguistic claim to reason and a subterranean theology.
• XREF: connects to: Critical Theory lacked grounds independent of both nature and rationality. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2146; Truth for critical theory is historically conditioned, not timeless.; Feminist theology sought to reform religion rather than reject it. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 640 (+1 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Critical Theory lacked grounds independent of both nature and rationality. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2146; Truth for critical theory is historically conditioned, not timeless.; Feminist theology sought to reform religion rather than reject it. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 640 (+1 more)