Horkheimer never resolved how economic autonomy relates to reason’s self-destruction

Evidence

Ultimately, the question arose: what was the connection between his observations in sociology and in the philosophy of history, assuming they were accurate? What was the relation between economic autonomy, which Horkheimer continued to refer to, and the self-destructive process occurring in reason? — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 336

Categorization

• QUESTION: The unresolved hinge of the whole dialectics project: how empirical sociology of economic agents squares with a philosophy of history of reason.
• XREF: connects to: Instrumentalization drives reason toward self-destruction in Horkheimer’s theory — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 335; Horkheimer never specified a criterion for distinguishing rational from regressive uses of tradition. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 371
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Instrumentalization drives reason toward self-destruction in Horkheimer’s theory — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 335; Horkheimer never specified a criterion for distinguishing rational from regressive uses of tradition. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 371