Horkheimer’s embrace of Adorno’s jazz essay shifted the Institute toward micro-analysis.

Evidence

Horkheimer was a materialist social theorist, attempting, through a philosophically initiated interdisciplinary analysis of society as a whole, to meet the demand for happiness asserted by mortal human beings who depend on the here and now. Adorno was an interpretative materialist who, by means of constructive interpretation' and elucidation of what was small, fragmentary, accidental and infused with idealism, aimed to liberate dialectically the elements which would be capable of rescuing these phenomena and producing a better form of rationality. — <cite>Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 184</cite> (#expands`, via linked claim)

Horkheimer, as second examiner, agreed with Tillich’s assessment, in the knowledge that both the direction of the philosophical interests, and the methods of thought and the linguistic form of the Habilitation thesis which has been submitted to us, are not related to my own philosophical aspirations. If Wiesengrund considers that he has recovered hope and reconciliation, of all things, from Kierkegaard's thought, he has thereby expressed a basic theological conviction which points to philosophical intentions radically different from my own, and this is noticeable in every single sentence. But I know that there lies behind this work not merely a strong philosophical will to truth, but also the strength to promote philosophy at significant points.' — <cite>Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 377</cite> (#qualifies`, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Horkheimer pursued total social analysis while Adorno read redemptive meaning from fragments. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 184; Horkheimer approved Adorno’s thesis despite deeming it radically alien to his own philosophy — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 377

Broader Connections

• Horkheimer pursued total social analysis while Adorno read redemptive meaning from fragments. #expands (0.85) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 184
• Horkheimer approved Adorno’s thesis despite deeming it radically alien to his own philosophy #qualifies (0.75) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 377