Marcuse valued collaborative philosophical work over the security of a professorship.

Evidence

Marcuse’s own statements helped to keep the whole business hanging in the balance, in the sphere of resigned, although fervent, wishes. He took the view that proper philosophical work was more important to him than a professorship. A visit to Horkheimer in Frankfurt in August 1951 had strengthened this attitude. His few days in Frankfurt had shown him once again `that more comes out of a half-hour discussion between us than from weeks of isolated or professional effort.’ — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 487

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Captures in a phrase (‘resigned, although fervent, wishes’) the affective structure of an exile intellectual’s whole relation to the Institute — worth sitting with.
• XREF: Resonates with Horkheimer’s and Adorno’s own later refusals to re-engage politically; the personal/intellectual tension runs through the school. — connects to: Marcuse prioritized shared theoretical work over professional security. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1980; Institutional prominence threatened the collaborative philosophical work it was meant to finance; Marcuse’s central commitment was belief in the primacy of correct theory over practice. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 295
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Marcuse prioritized shared theoretical work over professional security. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1980; Institutional prominence threatened the collaborative philosophical work it was meant to finance; Marcuse’s central commitment was belief in the primacy of correct theory over practice. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 295

Broader Connections

• Marcuse prioritized shared theoretical work over professional security. #corroborates (0.98) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1980