Horkheimer wavered between theoretician and administrator, independence and official security.

Evidence

For his own part, he was also travelling to Germany in the knowledge that the main task was to have left nothing undone in the effort to create ideal conditions for their philosophical work, to avoid the feeling that there was anything he had missed out. It was the old game: at the same time as he was holding out to himself the image of being able to work in isolation in a humble scholarly existence without an institute, without any contact with students, an audience or the system, he was trying to achieve as much institutional and establishment status and as much security, influence and recognition as possible. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1706 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

To act for strategic purposes and remain inwardly undecided was characteristic of Horkheimer; it was his way of reacting to the Jewish condition (an expression to be seen as analogous to Simone Weil’s condition ouvrière'), a condition in which achieving a forever fragile sense of security demanded Machiavellian skill. — <cite>Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1744</cite> (#expands`, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Horkheimer’s strategic indecision reflected a Jewish condition requiring Machiavellian skill for security — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1744; Horkheimer simultaneously pursued disengaged isolation and maximum institutional establishment status — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1706; Horkheimer simultaneously fantasized withdrawal from institutions and pursued maximum institutional status.

Broader Connections

• Horkheimer simultaneously pursued disengaged isolation and maximum institutional establishment status #corroborates (0.95) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1706
• Horkheimer simultaneously fantasized withdrawal from institutions and pursued maximum institutional status. #corroborates (0.95)
• Horkheimer’s strategic indecision reflected a Jewish condition requiring Machiavellian skill for security #expands (0.85) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1744