Horkheimer defines independent thought as halting destruction, not reviving ideals.

Evidence

Horkheimer’s view, more hinted at than stated here, was thus: independent thought would rescue the last trace of significance' not by attempting to revive something but by putting a halt to something destructive and distracting. Independent thought did not seek to renew worn-out ideals on the intellectual level, but instead attempted to link itself to their equivalents in human nature. For Horkheimer, this was the concrete significance of the formula recollecting nature within humanity’: an alliance between contemplation and instinct. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 372

Categorization

• DEFINE: Gives the content of ‘recollecting nature within humanity’ — an alliance between contemplation and instinct.
• DEEPTHINKING: The negative formulation — rescue significance by arresting a process rather than restoring a content — is the pivot of Horkheimer’s whole late position and resists a one-line summary.