Surviving utopian elements within myth furnished the pair’s positive concept of thoughtful reason.

Evidence

A similar fate was in store for myth, the subject which was treated as the opposite of enlightenment, although it was not mentioned in the `Memorandum’. Horkheimer and Adorno saw the idea of the transcendence of residues of inherited myth, the transcendence of utopian moments in myth, as playing an important role in defining the concept of thoughtful reason, the concept of a positive idea of enlightenment. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 343

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies what Horkheimer and Adorno meant by a ‘positive idea of enlightenment’: thoughtful reason defined partly through the redemption of myth’s utopian residues.
• XREF: connects to: Philosophy’s positive character emerges from two negative procedures. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1466; Once-believing in a utopia makes one an especially insightful post-utopian critic — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 821; Utopian thinking’s value survives even where its theoretical basis is flawed. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2321 (+2 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Philosophy’s positive character emerges from two negative procedures. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1466; Once-believing in a utopia makes one an especially insightful post-utopian critic — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 821; Utopian thinking’s value survives even where its theoretical basis is flawed. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2321 (+2 more)