Critical Theory rejected falsifiability because social truths imply possible alternatives to present order

Evidence

In addition to objecting to the goal of pure knowledge, which informed traditional theory, Horkheimer also rejected the ideal of general principles and verifying or falsifying examples. The general truths Critical Theory dealt with could not be verified or falsified by reference to the present order, simply because they implied the possibility of a different one. There must always be a dynamic moment in verification, one that pointed to the “negative” elements latent in the current reality. Social research must always contain a historical component, not in the rigid sense of judging events in the context of “objective” historical forces, but rather seeing them in the light of historical possibilities. Dialectical social research was receptive to insights generated from man’s prescientific experience; as mentioned earlier, it recognized the validity of the aesthetic imagination, of fantasy, as a repository of genuine human aspirations. All valid experience for the social theorist, it held, ought not to he reduced to the controlled observation of the laboratory. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 302

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s investigation of claims-as-is: Critical Theory’s refusal of falsifiability is a foundational contrast to the empiricist knowledge model the reader works against. — connects to: Critical Theory grounds truth claims in possible futures rather than present facts — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 302; Good theory is deliberately one-sided and falsifiable, not eclectic; Open-ended theories inviting unlimited added conditions become unfalsifiable and impractical (+2 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that verification must always carry a dynamic moment pointing to ‘negative’ latent elements — that facts imply possible different orders — is a dense epistemological position worth sitting with.

Broader Connections

• Good theory is deliberately one-sided and falsifiable, not eclectic #contradicts (0.92)
• Open-ended theories inviting unlimited added conditions become unfalsifiable and impractical #contradicts (0.85)
• Losing the fact-potential distinction makes thought submit to existing society #expands (0.80) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 40