Horkheimer’s main mentor Hans Cornelius shaped him personally more than theoretically

Evidence

If Horkheimer can be said to have had a true mentor, it was Hans Cornelius. As Pollock, who also studied under Cornelius, remembers it, his “influence on Horkheimer can hardly be overestimated.” 10 This seems to have been true more from a personal than a theoretical point of view. Although difficult to classify, Cornelius’s philosophical perspective was antidogmatic, opposed to Kantian idealism, and insistent on the importance of experience. His initial writings showed the influence of Avenarius and Mach, but in his later work he moved ‘away from their empiriocriticism and closer to a kind of phenomenology.” — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 194

Categorization

• QUESTION: What specific personal example did Cornelius set that so influenced Horkheimer, and did it shape the Institute’s antidogmatic ethos?
• XREF: connects to: Horkheimer defended his teaching by invoking Cornelius, Kant, and Hegel — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 528; Cornelius bequeathed Horkheimer cultural pessimism rather than philosophical doctrine — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 195

Broader Connections

• Cornelius bequeathed Horkheimer cultural pessimism rather than philosophical doctrine #expands (0.85) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 195
• Horkheimer defended his teaching by invoking Cornelius, Kant, and Hegel #corroborates (0.75) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 528