Horkheimer’s objective and subjective reason are two distinct concepts

Evidence

Clearly, Horkheimer was working with two distinct concepts of reason here. First, reason was equated with thoughtthis corresponded to the later concept of objective reason' in Horkheimer's Eclipse of Reason; then it was seen as an instrument serving self-preservationsubjective reason’, as it was termed in the Eclipse. Was instrumental reason therefore in conflict with thoughtful reason? Had instrumental reason thrown off what was humanistic and rational in reason, namely thoughtful, moral reason, as an `animist residue’? But, if this were so, how was it possible to speak of the self-destruction of reason? — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 335

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes objective reason (thought itself) from subjective reason (an instrument of self-preservation), the core terminological pair of Eclipse of Reason.
• QUESTION: The author’s own unresolved doubt: if instrumental reason merely sheds an ‘animist residue’, talk of reason’s self-destruction becomes incoherent.