The Frankfurt Circle treated the identity of barbarism and culture as an axiom.

Evidence

I share your happiness that we have Benjamin’s history theses. They will keep us busy for some time to come, and he will still be with us. The identity of barbarism and culture … was, by the way, the subject of one of my last conversations with him in a café near the Gare Montparnasse … The idea of class struggle as universal oppression, and exposing historiography as empathy with the rulers, are insights which we must view as theoretical axioms. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1299

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘identity of barbarism and culture’ echoes Adorno’s dictum from the same period, and links to Benjamin’s own work that this reading plan is focused on. — connects to: Heidegger’s philosophy was debated within the Frankfurt Circle debating group — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 386