Positivist empiricism passively supports universal injustice

Evidence

The view that thought is a means of knowing more about the world than may be directly observed … seems to us entirely mysterious’ is the conviction expressed in a work of the Vienna circle. This principle is particularly significant in a world whose magnificent exterior radiates complete unity and order while panic and distress prevail beneath. Autocrats, cruel colonial governors, and sadistic prison wardens have always wished for visitors with this positivistic mentality. If science as a whole follows the lead of empiricism and the intellect renounces its insistent and confident probing of the tangled brush of observations in order to unearth more about the world than even our well-meaning daily press, it will be participating passively in the maintenance of universal injustice. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 750

Categorization

• XREF: Builds on the book’s running theme (ch.20, ch.26) of theory-vs-empiricism and Horkheimer’s critique of irrationalism serving power. — connects to: Positivist philosophy imposes an empirical a priori that cannot be transcended — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 671; Empiricism that excludes man-made context becomes ideology — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 454

Broader Connections

• Empiricism that excludes man-made context becomes ideology #expands (0.95) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 454
• Positivist philosophy imposes an empirical a priori that cannot be transcended #expands (0.85) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 671