Max Horkheimer
Theory should not just describe society but criticise it with the aim of changing it – and reason reduced to a mere tool becomes dangerous.
Placement
Directed the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research: the program of a critical theory of society.
Key ideas
- Critical vs. traditional theory
- Instrumental reason
Influence
Influenced by 4
Immanuel Kant
influenced by
Horkheimer took his doctorate (1922) and habilitation (1925) under Hans Cornelius with studies of Kant’s Critique of Judgement as the link between theoretical and practical philosophy. M. Horkheimer, Zur Antinomie der teleologischen Urteilskraft (1922); Über Kants Kritik der Urteilskraft als Bindeglied zwischen theoretischer und praktischer Philosophie (1925)
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Immanuel Kant › 1724–1804
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
influenced by
In his inaugural lecture as director of the Institute for Social Research (1931) Horkheimer traced social philosophy back to Hegel’s objective spirit, to be renewed through interdisciplinary research. M. Horkheimer, “Die gegenwärtige Lage der Sozialphilosophie und die Aufgaben eines Instituts für Sozialforschung” (1931); SEP “Critical Theory”
Evidence: AI draft
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel › 1770–1831
Arthur Schopenhauer
influenced by
Horkheimer, who read Schopenhauer from his youth, valued his pessimism and ethics of compassion as a corrective to optimistic philosophies of history (‘Die Aktualität Schopenhauers’, 1961). M. Horkheimer, “Schopenhauer und die Gesellschaft” (1955); “Die Aktualität Schopenhauers” (1961); A. Schmidt, Drei Studien über Materialismus (1977)
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Arthur Schopenhauer › 1788–1860
Karl Marx
influenced by
Horkheimer took Marx’s critique of political economy as the model of a ‘critical theory’ of society, as opposed to traditional theory (‘Traditional and Critical Theory’, 1937). M. Horkheimer, “Traditionelle und kritische Theorie”, Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung 6 (1937); SEP “Critical Theory”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Karl Marx › 1818–1883
Influenced 3
Theodor W. Adorno
influenced ✓
With Horkheimer, Adorno worked out the thesis that enlightenment reverts to mythology and the critique of the culture industry (Dialectic of Enlightenment, 1944/47). M. Horkheimer and T. W. Adorno, Dialektik der Aufklärung (mimeographed 1944, publ. 1947); SEP “Theodor W. Adorno”
Theodor W. Adorno › 1903–1969
Jürgen Habermas
influenced ✓
Habermas continued Horkheimer’s programme of an interdisciplinary critical theory but replaced his critique of instrumental reason with a theory of communicative rationality (Theory of Communicative Action, 1981). J. Habermas, Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns (1981); M. Horkheimer, “Traditionelle und kritische Theorie” (1937); Eclipse of Reason (1947)
Jürgen Habermas › 1929–2026
Axel Honneth
influenced ✓
Honneth reconstructed Horkheimer’s early programme of an interdisciplinary social theory in Kritik der Macht (1985) and later directed the Institute for Social Research Horkheimer had led. A. Honneth, Kritik der Macht (1985); “Eine soziale Pathologie der Vernunft”, in Pathologien der Vernunft (2007)
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Axel Honneth › b. 1949
Works
Theory as a moment of social practice.
Myth is already enlightenment, and enlightenment reverts to mythology – the culture industry.
Position
Horkheimer defined the program of the Frankfurt School. “Traditional theory” treats society like nature, as a set of facts to be described; “critical theory” recognises that knowledge is itself part of social practice and aims at a society free of domination. This called for interdisciplinary work uniting philosophy, sociology, psychoanalysis and economics. With Adorno he wrote Dialectic of Enlightenment, which asked why enlightened modernity produced fascism. In Eclipse of Reason he criticised “instrumental reason”, which only calculates means and can no longer judge ends. In later years he became more pessimistic and voiced a “longing for the wholly other”.
Life & context
The son of a Stuttgart manufacturer, Horkheimer became director of the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt in 1930 and made it the home of Critical Theory. After 1933 he led the institute in exile in Geneva, New York and California. Returning to Frankfurt after the war, he re-founded the institute and served as rector of the university.
Further main works
- Eclipse of Reason (1947)
Appears in
- Journey ‘Hegel’s Heirs’ · Stop 7 of 10
- Journey ‘Philosophy under National Socialism’ · Stop 9 of 10
As of November 2026 · Sources · Improve this page · How Agora is made