Horkheimer held Engels’s philosophy of history above empirical economic evidence.

Evidence

As I have boundless confidence in your research on economic processes in Germany, I do believe your statement that Germany is not in a situation remotely resembling that of state capitalism. On the other hand, I cannot free myself from Engels’s view that society is moving towards precisely that. I must therefore assume that the approach of such a period very probably still threatens us. And this seems to me to a great extent to prove the value of Pollock’s construct in providing a basis for discussion of a topical problem, in spite of all its deficiencies. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1177

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Horkheimer’s confession reveals a profound methodological posture: he trusts a colleague’s empirical findings over his theoretical conviction yet cannot abandon the theory anyway. The whole episode is a case study in how philosophical-historical commitments can override falsifying data.
• XREF: Connects to Popper’s critique of historicism and the broader positivism dispute within the Frankfurt School itself. — connects to: Horkheimer favored dialectical insight over empirical research into the facts. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 745; Horkheimer’s state capitalism theory rested on speculative philosophy of history rather than evidence — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1176

Broader Connections

• Horkheimer favored dialectical insight over empirical research into the facts. #corroborates (0.92) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 745
• Horkheimer’s state capitalism theory rested on speculative philosophy of history rather than evidence #exemplifies (0.75) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1176