Horkheimer blamed society’s irrational structure for the retreat from systematic theory

Evidence

Horkheimer concluded his draft for the preface with the resigned flourish: `The objective situation, which is unfavourable to a discrete theory, was also the reason why the authors have devoted more of their energy to their academic duties than they would ever have considered possible. That energy has gone into lectures, speeches, talks and seminars.’ — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2388

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader Frankfurt School narrative of the decline of systematic Critical Theory in the 1960s and the turn toward ‘academic duties’. — connects to: An irrational social whole cannot be grasped by a rational, consistent theory. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2390; Horkheimer held that society’s irrationality itself foreclosed a consistent theory of society. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2388; Logical positivism functioned regressively by abandoning reason’s constructive power over nature and society. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 749 (+2 more)
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: whether Horkheimer’s ‘resigned flourish’ matched his actual behavior or was partly rhetorical self-justification.

Broader Connections

• Late capitalism’s irrationality thwarts the rational systematic theory Marx could achieve #corroborates (0.85) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 903
• The irrationality of society did not justify abandoning dialectical theory #qualifies (0.82) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2396