HORKHEIMER AND THE TEMPTATIONS OF CRITICAL THEORY

Abstract

This article is aims to expose some central elements of the conception of critical theory developed by Max Horkheimer. This conception oscillates in a tense field ranging from the possibility of revolution to the suspicion that both, the socialist and postwar capitalist blocs are made up of elements that tend to annul the individual through the constitution of a fully managed society, whose ideal prototype was fascism. The radicality of Horkheimer’s critical thinking captures an unavoidable dilemma for critical thinking: both the recipes of revolution and the overvaluation of the forces of the individual and subjectivity confirm the established status quo. Facing this radical diagnosis of our reality presents itself as a central challenge of critical theory. How can we make critical theory in this field of constant tensions, give voice to what systems shut up, without falling into the temptation to give way and yet without falling into immobility? [Editor’s translation].