Horkheimer hired a pure empiricist precisely because he was not a critical theorist.

Evidence

Its professionalism was due to the Institute’s new associate, Ludwig von Friedeburg, who probably suited Horkheimer precisely because he seemed to him to be a pure empiricist who had nothing to do with Critical Theory. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 513

Categorization

• XREF: Cuts against the school’s reputation for methodological unity — the empiricist was recruited for his distance from the theory. — connects to: Horkheimer located Critical Theory’s distinctiveness at the level of theory, not empirical method. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 197
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Horkheimer located Critical Theory’s distinctiveness at the level of theory, not empirical method. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 197