Horkheimer’s fear of ruthless critique drove him to reactionary political positions

Evidence

It is hard to say which was greater in Horkheimer: his fear of producing an up-to-date account of the self-destruction of the Enlightenment, while not being able to replace it with a positive concept of enlightenment; or his fear of the offensive effect of an analysis critical of society that was not melancholy and calm, but ruthless. In any case, the outcome was an attitude that was reactionary in more and more respectsfor example, in the 1950s he rejected the Algerian struggle for liberation, and in the 1960s he rejected criticism of the American war in Vietnam. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2016

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The dialectic between self-censoring caution and radical critique materializing in a thinker’s actual politics is dense and unsettling.
• XREF: connects to: Horkheimer’s cautious tactical maneuvering stemmed from Jewish insecurity — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1744; Horkheimer privately despised his era yet publicly promoted bourgeois traditions — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2112; Late Horkheimer embraced anti-Communist and pro-American rhetoric — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 1726 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Late Horkheimer embraced anti-Communist and pro-American rhetoric #exemplifies (0.85) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 1726
• Horkheimer privately despised his era yet publicly promoted bourgeois traditions #corroborates (0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2112