Horkheimer came to philosophy late, after commerce and psychology

Evidence

Horkheimer, Pollock’s junior by nine months, was born in 1895 in Stuttgart. At the urging of his father, Moritz, a prominent Jewish manufacturer, he too had had commercial training before entering military service. Horkheimer accepted the advice of his father on such matters as extended visits to Brussels and London, which he took with Pollock in 1913-1914 to learn French and English. But at no time were his interests solely those of the aspiring businessman. There is clear evidence of this in the series of novels he wrote (but left unpublished) during this period in his life. After 1918 he sought more disciplined intellectual training at the same three universities attended by Pollock. Initially working in psychology under the direction of the Gestaltist Adhemar Gelb, he was diverted into another field after news reached Frankfurt that a project comparable to the one in which he was engaged had recently been completed elsewhere. The new field was philosophy and his new mentor Hans Cornelius. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 97

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Psychology-socialism debates shaped Horkheimer’s turn to Freudian theory — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 317; Horkheimer chose philosophy only after a rival publication blocked his psychology dissertation — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 178

Broader Connections

• Psychology-socialism debates shaped Horkheimer’s turn to Freudian theory #complicates (0.70) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 317