Horkheimer’s strategic indecision was a survival response to permanent insecurity

Evidence

Because of the prospects for greater security, and to hurry on the building of the Institute, which was important whether it was eventually decided to make their place of residence Europe or America, Horkheimer finally went to Frankfurt as well in February 1950. … To act for strategic purposes and remain inwardly undecided was characteristic of Horkheimer; it was his way of reacting to the Jewish condition (an expression to be seen as analogous to Simone Weil’s `condition ouvrière’), a condition in which achieving a forever fragile sense of security demanded Machiavellian skill. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 431

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘Jewish condition’ as permanent precariousness parallels Arendt’s and Sartre’s later writing on antisemitism and the social construction of the Jew as outsider. — connects to: Horkheimer backed Benjamin’s project financially while remaining indecisive and unpredictable — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 211; Horkheimer’s cautious tactical maneuvering stemmed from Jewish insecurity — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1744; Horkheimer’s strategic indecision reflected a Jewish condition requiring Machiavellian skill for security — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1744 (+5 more)
• DEFINE: Horkheimer’s ‘Jewish condition’ is glossed via Simone Weil’s ‘condition ouvrière’ — a structural, inescapable social position rather than a personal circumstance.
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Horkheimer backed Benjamin’s project financially while remaining indecisive and unpredictable — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 211; Horkheimer’s cautious tactical maneuvering stemmed from Jewish insecurity — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1744; Horkheimer’s strategic indecision reflected a Jewish condition requiring Machiavellian skill for security — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1744 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Horkheimer’s strategic indecision reflected a Jewish condition requiring Machiavellian skill for security #corroborates (0.96) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1744
• Horkheimer’s cautious tactical maneuvering stemmed from Jewish insecurity #corroborates (0.93) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1744
• Horkheimer simultaneously pursued disengaged isolation and maximum institutional establishment status #complicates (0.74) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1706