Habermas read Marx as a theory of reification, not a critique of capitalism

Evidence

In his other early works, Habermas proved to be a kind of democratically oriented critic of culture (Kulturkritiker). He was familiar with the conservative culture criticism (Kulturkritik) of Hans Freyer and Arnold Gehlen. He had written a dissertation on The Absolute and History: The Duality in Schelling’s Thought, and was thus also aware of the critique of alienation that had been produced by conservative and Romantic thinkers during the decades around 1800. But Karl Löwith’s book From Hegel to Nietzsche, written in exile in Japan, also drew his attention to the Young Hegelians and the young Marx. In 1953 he discovered Lukács’s History and Class Consciousness in the library of the Philosophy Department at Bonn University, and read it with fascination. He also discovered Horkheimer and Adorno’s Dialectic of Enlightenment, in which the key experience for him was the way in which the authors used Marx’s thought to analyse the present-day situation. For Habermas, however, Marx’s thought was significant for the present day not as a critique of capitalism but rather as a theory of reification, which he looked at from the standpoint of philosophical anthropology. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2301

In 1953 he discovered Lukács’s History and Class Consciousness in the library of the Philosophy Department at Bonn University, and read it with fascination. He also discovered Horkheimer and Adorno’s Dialectic of Enlightenment, in which the key experience for him was the way in which the authors used Marx’s thought to analyse the present-day situation. For Habermas, however, Marx’s thought was significant for the present day not as a critique of capitalism but rather as a theory of reification, which he looked at from the standpoint of philosophical anthropology. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 568

Categorization

• XREF: Directly contrasts with the Institute’s own critical reading of Marx, and ties to Lukács’s reification theory from ch9 and ch12. — connects to: Young Habermas asked only for enriched work tasks, not critique of capitalism — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2310; Dutschke’s new voluntarism rejected Habermas’s orthodox Marxism in favor of will — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2617
• DEFINE: Distinguishes reification-theory Marxism from capitalism-critique Marxism, a crucial Frankfurt-school distinction.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2301; Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 568

Broader Connections

• Young Habermas asked only for enriched work tasks, not critique of capitalism #corroborates (0.90) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2310