The positivist dispute began as method disputes concealing social-policy controversies.

Evidence

The controversy between Hofstätter and Adorno publicly crystallized, for the first time in the Federal Republic, something which later went down in the history of sociology as the positivist dispute': the use of disputes over the methodology and philosophy of science as an arena for controversies over social theory and social policy. — <cite>Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2046</cite> (#corroborates`, via linked claim)

In its early days, the logical positivist movement had a distinctly political flavor. Their unified and scientific world conception provided the philosophical and methodological basis for the integration of everyday life with politics and science, aiming at a comprehensive reform of society along egalitarian lines. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 59 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Methodological disputes served as proxy arenas for substantive social theory conflicts — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2046; Logical positivism began as an egalitarian political and social program — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 59

Related

• Methodological disputes served as proxy arenas for substantive social theory conflicts (similarity 0.92)
• Logical positivism began as an egalitarian political and social program (similarity 0.82)
• The 1961 Tübingen Popper-Adorno debate failed to surface the real divide (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Methodological disputes served as proxy arenas for substantive social theory conflicts #corroborates (0.95) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2046
• Logical positivism began as an egalitarian political and social program #expands (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 59