Horkheimer directed his critique at both positivism and metaphysics

Evidence

What was Horkheimerian about his sketch of the dialectic of enlightenment was the easy-to-follow presentation of his ideas. Equally Horkheimerian was its fresh version of the old two-front opposition to positivism and metaphysics, which was now explicitly extended to United States pragmatism and neo-Thomismas ever, with the greatest respect being given both to the metaphysical and to the positivist opponents. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1454

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader two-front critique running through Dialectic of Enlightenment and Horkheimer’s corpus. — connects to: Horkheimer’s dialectical concept of nature-domination was attacked from both rationalism and irrationalism — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 547; Horkheimer’s lifelong dialectics project opposed both scientism and irrationalist metaphysics — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 726; Horkheimer and Adorno anchored their critique of reason in different ideals — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1308 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Both positivism and pragmatism shared philosophical assumptions Horkheimer opposed. #expands (0.85) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 243
• Horkheimer saw mathematical formalism as itself a kind of metaphysics #expands (0.80) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 245
• Positivist philosophy imposes an empirical a priori that cannot be transcended #exemplifies (0.75) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 671