Vienna Circle positivism out-competed Critical Theory in America due to philosophical congruence.

Evidence

Throughout its history, the Institut carried on a spirited defense of reason on two fronts. In addition to the attack by the irrationalists, which by the twentieth century had degenerated into outright obscurantist mindlessness, another and perhaps more serious threat was posed from a different quarter. With the breakdown of the Hegelian synthesis in the second half of the nineteenth century, a new stress on empirically derived social science had developed alongside the increasing domination of natural science over men’s lives. Positivism denied the validity of the traditional idea of reason as Vernunft, which it dismissed as empty metaphysics. At the time of the Frankfurt School the most significant proponents of this point of view were the Logical Positivists of the Vienna Circle, who were forced to emigrate to the United States at about the same time. In America their impact was far greater than the Institut’s because of the congruence of their ideas with the basic traditions of American philosophy. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 243

Categorization

• XREF: Explains why American social science absorbed logical positivism rather than Critical Theory — a key reason for the Institute’s marginal influence in its American exile. — connects to: Postmodernism triumphed as a concept in America more than rival critical theories.; Postwar anti-communist consensus marginalized radical American literary theorists — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Nations, Classes, Literatures, 85; The Frankfurt School’s positivism label covered nominalist, empirical, scientific currents — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 2148 (+4 more)
• SEED: Angle: why logical positivism’s American reception dwarfed Frankfurt School influence — a case study in philosophical compatibility determining intellectual migration impact.

Broader Connections

• Postmodernism triumphed as a concept in America more than rival critical theories. #responds-to (0.80)
• The Frankfurt School’s positivism label covered nominalist, empirical, scientific currents #qualifies (0.78) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 2148
• Postwar anti-communist consensus marginalized radical American literary theorists #complicates (0.72) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 85
• Marcuse and Neumann preserved Critical Theory’s political project that Horkheimer and Adorno abandoned #corroborates (0.72) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 31