Germany’s 1961 sociology disputes split along moral and political lines, not just method.

Evidence

In 1961 Ralf Dahrendorf, commenting on the discussion of the presentations given by Karl Popper and Theodor Adorno on the logic of the social sciences at an internal workshop held in Tübingen by the German Sociological Society, wrote: It is no secret that manifold differences not only in research orientation but also in theoretical position and, beyond this, differences in basic moral and political attitudes, divide the present generation of university teachers of sociology in Germany. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 595

Categorization

• DEFINE: Marks the precise origin of the ‘positivist dispute’ in the 1961 Tübingen workshop of the German Sociological Society, a foundational reference point for Critical Theory’s later methodological battles.
• XREF: Connects to the Popper-Adorno debate over the logic of the social sciences and Habermas’s later positivism dispute. — connects to: German postwar sociologists accused each other of totalitarian tendencies; German sociologists accused each other of fascist and communist totalitarian leanings. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 595; Frankfurt theorists and pure sociologists accused each other of totalitarian tendencies. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2403
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: German postwar sociologists accused each other of totalitarian tendencies; German sociologists accused each other of fascist and communist totalitarian leanings. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 595; Frankfurt theorists and pure sociologists accused each other of totalitarian tendencies. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2403