Kant absolutized historical contradictions into nature, thereby affirming the status quo

Evidence

As might he expected, Horkheimer’s interest in the question of bourgeois individualism led him back to a consideration of Kant and the origins of Innerlichkeit (inwardness). Among the dualistic ele ments in Kant’s philosophy, he noted,’ was the gap between duty and interest. Individual morality, discovered by practical reason, was internalized and divorced from public ethics. Here Hegel’s Sittlichkeit (ethics), with its emphasis on bridging the public-private opposition, was superior to Kant’s Moralitat (morality). Despite this, Kant’s view was closer to a correct reflection of conditions in the early nineteenth century; for to assume that a harmony could exist at that time between personal morality and public ethics, or between self-interest and a universal moral code, was to ignore the real irrationality of the external order. Where Kant had been wrong, however, was in considering these contradictions immutable. By absolutizing the distinction between the individual and society, he had made a natural condition out of what was merely historically valid, thereby unwittingly affirming the status quo. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 215

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces and distinguishes Innerlichkeit, Sittlichkeit, and Moralitat — key Frankfurt School vocabulary for the public-private split.
• XREF: This is the classic dialectical critique of Kant — connects to Lukacs’ reification and later Adorno’s ‘whole is the untrue’ trajectory. — connects to: Reason’s apparent triumph over nature is really its obedient subjection to facts — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 45; Kant’s reason holds utopia and calculation in unresolved contradiction; The Kantian ego is a product of material economic conditions, not a transcendental given — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 79 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Kant’s critical idealism planted seeds for later ideology theory without historicizing knowledge #expands (0.85)
• Kant’s sublime theory is complicit with domination #corroborates (0.75)
• Nature and history are inseparable and mutually qualifying #contradicts (0.72) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1339