Horkheimer tied conceptual meaning change to shifts in social function

Evidence

Horkheimer gave the procedure its materialist note by connecting changes in the meaning of concepts with changes in the social function of those concepts. The dialectical development which he presumed to exist was based on the assumption that there was a process, effective in every possible field, inhibiting or releasing those forces which were seeking the best possible condition for humanity. There was hardly any distinction between this and the determinism of Hegel’s idealist dialectics. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 203

Categorization

• DEFINE: Gives the operational core of Horkheimer’s materialist dialectic: meaning-change tracks function-change in society.