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| − | '''Max Horkheimer''' ([[February 14]], [[1895]] – [[July 7]], [[1973]]) was a Jewish-German philosopher and sociologist, known especially as the founder and guiding thinker of the [[Frankfurt School]] of [[critical theory]]. | + | '''[[Max Horkheimer]]''' (February 14, 1895 – July 7, 1973) was a [[Jewish]]-[[German]] [[philosopher]] and [[sociologist]], known especially as the founder and guiding thinker of the Frankfurt [[School]] of [critical [[theory]]. |
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| − | ==Biography==
| + | {{LA}}p. 142 |
| − | | + | * {{Z}} ''[[The Fragile Absolute|The Fragile Absolute, or Why the Christian Legacy is Worth Fighting For]]''. [[London]] and New York: Verso. p. 18 |
| − | Horkheimer was born in [[Stuttgart]] to an assimilated Jewish family; due to parental pressure, he did not initially pursue an academic career, leaving secondary school at the age of sixteen to work in his father's factory. After [[World War I]], however, he enrolled in München, where he studied [[Philosophy]] and [[Psychology]]; he subsequently moved to Frankfurt am Main, where he studied under [[Hans Cornelius]]. There he would meet [[Theodor Adorno]], many years his junior, with whom he would strike a lasting friendship and one of the most fruitful collaborative efforts in contemporary philosophy.
| + | * {{Z}} ''[[Conversations with Žižek|Conversations with Žižek: Slavoj Žižek and Glyn Daly]]''. London: Polity Press, 2004. pp. 48, 124 |
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| − | In [[1925]] he was [[habilitation|habilitated]] with a dissertation on ''Kant's Critique of Judgement as Mediation between Practical and Theoretical Philosophy'' under Cornelius' direction. He was appointed as ''[[Privatdozent]]'' the following year; when the [[Institute for Social Research]]'s direction became vacant in [[1930]], he was elected for the position; among the founding members of the Institute were also [[Friedrich Pollock]], [[Leo Löwenthal]], and [[Erich Fromm]]. The following year publication of the Institute's ''Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung'' was begun, with Horkheimer as its editor. Besides the Institute's members, contributors included Adorno and [[Walter Benjamin]].
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| − | In [[1933]] his ''[[venia legendi]]'' was revoked by the Nazi government, and the Institute closed. Horkheimer emigrated to Switzerland, from where he would leave for the [[United States of America|USA]] the following year. The generous offer of [[Columbia University]] to host the Institute in exile allowed for the continued publication of the Institute's journal.
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| − | In [[1940]] Horkheimer received American citizenship and moved to [[Pacific Palisades]], California, where his collaboration with Adorno would yield the ''[[Dialectic of Enlightenment]]''. Unlike Adorno, Horkheimer was never a prolific writer, and in the following twenty years he published little, although he continued to edit ''Studies in Philosophy and Social Science'' as a continuation to the ''Zeitschrift''. In [[1949]] he returned to Frankfurt, where the Institute was reopened the following year. Between 1951 and 1953 Horkheimer was Rektor of the [[University of Frankfurt]].
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| − | He would return to America between 1954 and 1959 to lecture at Chicago. He retired in 1955. He remained an important figure until his death in [[Nuremberg|Nürnberg]] in 1973.
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| − | ==Philosophy and writings==
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| − | '''Eclipse of Reason''' | |
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| − | Horkheimer's book, ''Eclipse of Reason'' deals with the concept of "reason" within the history of Western philosophy. Horkheimer defines true reason as rationality. He details the difference between objective and subjective reason and states that we have moved from objective to subjective. Objective reason deals with universal truths that dictate that an action is either right or wrong. Subjective reason takes into account the situation and social norms. Actions that produce the best situation for the individual are "reasonable" according to subjective reason. The movement from one type of reason to the other occurred when thought could no longer accommodate these objective truths or when it judged them to be delusions. Under subjective reason, concepts lose their meaning. All concepts must be strictly functional to be reasonable. Because subjective reason rules, the ideals of a society, for example democratic ideals, become dependent on the "interests" of the people instead of being dependent on objective truths.
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| − | Writing in 1946, Horkheimer was strongly influenced by the Nazi legacy in Germany. He outlined how the Nazis had been able to make their agenda appear "reasonable", but also issued a warning about the possibility of this happening again. Horkheimer believed that the ills of modern society are caused by the misuse and misunderstanding of reason: if people use true reason to critique their societies, they will be able to identify and solve their problems.
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| − | ==Notes==
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| − | <blockquote><ref>Žižek, S. (2000) [[The Fragile Absolute]], or Why the Christian Legacy is Worth Fighting For, London and New York: Verso. p. 18</ref></blockquote>
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| − | 48, 124 Conversations | |
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| | ==References== | | ==References== |
| | <references/> | | <references/> |
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| − | ==Select bibliography==
| + | [[Category:People|Horkheimer, Max]] |
| − | *''Authority and the Family'' ([[1936]])
| + | [[Category:Postmodern theory|Horkheimer, Max]] |
| − | *''Critique of Instrumental Reason'' ([[1967]])
| + | [[Category:Marxist theory|Horkheimer, Max]] |
| − | *''Dawn & Decline''
| + | [[Category:Philosophy|Horkheimer, Max]] |
| − | *''Dialectic of Enlightenment'' ([[1947]]) - with [[Theodor Adorno]]
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| − | *''Eclipse of Reason'' ([[1947]])
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| − | *''Egoism and the Freedom Movement''
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| − | *''The Authoritarian State''
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| − | *''The Longing for the Totally Other''
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| − | == External links ==
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| − | *[http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/horkheimer/index.htm Max Horkheimer Internet Archive] contains complete texts of ''Enlightenment as Mass Deception'' (1944), ''Theism and Atheism'' (1963) and ''Feudal Lord, Customer, and Specialist'' (1964).
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| − | *[http://home.cwru.edu/~ngb2/Authors/Horkheimer.html Short Description of ''Eclipse of Reason'']
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| − | [[Category:1895 births|Horkheimer, Max]] | |
| − | [[Category:1973 deaths|Horkheimer, Max]] | |
| − | [[Category:20th century philosophers|Horkheimer, Max]] | |
| − | [[Category:Continental philosophers|Horkheimer, Max]] | |
| | [[Category:Frankfurt School|Horkheimer, Max]] | | [[Category:Frankfurt School|Horkheimer, Max]] |
| − | [[Category:German philosophers|Horkheimer, Max]] | + | [[Category:Index|Horkheimer, Max]] |
| − | [[Category:Marxist theorists|Horkheimer, Max]] | + | [[Category:Slavoj Žižek|Horkheimer, Max]] |
| − | [[Category:Social philosophy|Horkheimer, Max]] | + | [[Category:Looking Awry|Horkheimer, Max]] |
| − | [[Category:German sociologists|Horkheimer, Max]]
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| − | [[Category:Philosophy]]
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| − | [[Category:People]]
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