Critique of instrumental reason must proceed dialectically, not by opposing another philosophy

Evidence

The text, particularly in the first chapter, describes the process of formalization and instrumentalization of reason as a necessary and irresistible one, in the sense in which Hegel dealt with enlightenment in the Phenomenology. But after that the book only contains a critique of this form of reason. The relationship between the critical point of view and the point of view being criticized has not been made theoretically clear. It often seems as though we were professing objective reason dogmatically' to a certain extent, having previously determined that subjective reason is ineluctable. In reality, two things must be made quite clear: first, that there is no positive solution’ in the sense of providing a philosophy which could simply be contrasted to subjective reason; secondly, that the critique of subjective reason is only possible on a dialectical basis, i.e. by demonstrating the contradictions in its own course of development and transcending it through its own determinate negation. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1392

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies what ‘determinate negation’ means as a dialectical method: transcending a standpoint by demonstrating contradictions in its own development rather than contrasting a rival philosophy.
• XREF: Connects to Horkheimer’s Eclipse of Reason and its own distinction between objective and subjective reason, as well as to the broader Frankfurt School method of immanent critique. — connects to: Philosophy must adopt barbarism’s own brutal style to oppose barbarism exactly — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1328; Philosophical propositions dialectically preserve, suppress, and present their cancelled form; Dialectical criticism occupies a non-position between immersion and externality — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry: Selected Essays…, 53 (+1 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The methodological self-critique here — that a critique which only negates without dialectically transcending remains dogmatic — is a genuinely dense, paradigm-level statement about what immanent critique requires.

Broader Connections

• Thinking must hold dialectic and its opposite together at once #expands (0.88) — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, 170
• Philosophical propositions dialectically preserve, suppress, and present their cancelled form #expands (0.82)
• Dialectical criticism occupies a non-position between immersion and externality #complicates (0.78) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 53