Nineteenth-century progress dashed hopes that society could become less arbitrary

Evidence

In the course of the nineteenth century, with the progress of science, technology and industry, it began to be seen that the means existed of making the social whole less and less arbitrary and unjust towards individuals, and accordingly less in need of transfiguration. This hope was dashed, and the necessity for transfiguration emerged again. The projects of today’s social philosophy are an attempt to meet this need. But it is based on a conception of philosophy which is no longer tenable. The present state of knowledge requires a continuing fusion of philosophy and the various branches of science. In both sociological and philosophical discussion about society, a single question has begun to stand out: the question of the connection between the economic life of society, the psychic development of the individual and changes in the cultural sphere. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 147

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the Frankfurt amalgamation thesis: philosophy must fuse with empirical science disciplines, and the guiding question is the interconnection of economy, psyche, and culture.
• XREF: connects to: Nineteenth-century claim-making became cosmopolitan, modular, and autonomous — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 348