The Frankfurt School, also known as the Institute of Social Research (Institut für Sozialforschung), is a social and political philosophical movement of thought. It is the primal source of critical theory. The Institute was founded with the aim of developing Marxist studies in Germany. After Nazis forced it to close and move, it became a specific school of thought, which found its new home in USA, Columbia University, New York.
Frankfurt School was the grounds of critical thinking in education. Some of its core issues involve the critique of modernities and of capitalist society, the definition of social emancipation and the perceived pathologies of society. Critical theory provides a specific interpretation of Marxist philosophy and reinterprets some of its central economic and political notions such as commodification, reification, fetishization and critique of mass culture.
The movement and the school itself, which after a few decades of its establishment became a legal entity attached to Frankfurt University, had a major impact on the society in 20th century. It overstepped various stereotypes, broke standards and was not afraid to oppose prevailing norms. Frankfurt school provided for studies on the labor movement and the origins of anti-Semitism, which at the time were being ignored in German intellectual and academic life.
Members of the Institute were able to address a wide variety of economic, social, political and aesthetic topics, ranging from empirical analysis to philosophical theorization. Different interpretations of Marxism and its historical applications explain some of the hardest confrontations on economic themes within the Institute, such as the case of Pollock’s criticism of Grossman’s standard view on the pauperization of capitalism.
The most identified as the leading representative of the Frankfurt School was Max Horkheimer.
He attempted to rejoin all dichotomies – like those between consciousness and being, theory and practice, fact and value – through the use of dialectical mediation. Also, Dialectics for Horkheimer amounted to neither a metaphysical principle nor a historical praxis. On the contrary, they functioned as the battleground for overcoming categorical fixities and oppositions.
Horkheimer published the ideological manifesto of the School in his “Traditional and Critical Theory” ([1937] 1976), where some of the already anticipated topics were addressed, such as the practical and critical turn of theory.
From my point of view, the Frankfurt School is not just a strong social movement. It is an encouragement for people to start thinking critically. It is a reminder, that former theories and practices must not be abandoned in the past, to the contrary, they must be brought up to light, newly developed and adjusted for today’s society. Frankfurt School’s critical theory set out to challenge all previously accepted standards in every aspect of life from Marxist perspective. The thinkers of this school saw much within Marxism which could be employed to form a new foundation for post- Christian society. Truly inspiring and brave is that they were without doubt driven forward by an aim to totally change society, and metaphysics would have no place in this since their version of 'utopia' was of a wholly rationalistic and materialistic world. It maybe not exactly the version of ‘Utopia’ I support, it is definitely an interesting and positively astonishing idea of the new society.
Frankfurt School was the grounds of critical thinking in education. Some of its core issues involve the critique of modernities and of capitalist society, the definition of social emancipation and the perceived pathologies of society. Critical theory provides a specific interpretation of Marxist philosophy and reinterprets some of its central economic and political notions such as commodification, reification, fetishization and critique of mass culture.
The movement and the school itself, which after a few decades of its establishment became a legal entity attached to Frankfurt University, had a major impact on the society in 20th century. It overstepped various stereotypes, broke standards and was not afraid to oppose prevailing norms. Frankfurt school provided for studies on the labor movement and the origins of anti-Semitism, which at the time were being ignored in German intellectual and academic life.
Members of the Institute were able to address a wide variety of economic, social, political and aesthetic topics, ranging from empirical analysis to philosophical theorization. Different interpretations of Marxism and its historical applications explain some of the hardest confrontations on economic themes within the Institute, such as the case of Pollock’s criticism of Grossman’s standard view on the pauperization of capitalism.
The most identified as the leading representative of the Frankfurt School was Max Horkheimer.
He attempted to rejoin all dichotomies – like those between consciousness and being, theory and practice, fact and value – through the use of dialectical mediation. Also, Dialectics for Horkheimer amounted to neither a metaphysical principle nor a historical praxis. On the contrary, they functioned as the battleground for overcoming categorical fixities and oppositions.
Horkheimer published the ideological manifesto of the School in his “Traditional and Critical Theory” ([1937] 1976), where some of the already anticipated topics were addressed, such as the practical and critical turn of theory.
From my point of view, the Frankfurt School is not just a strong social movement. It is an encouragement for people to start thinking critically. It is a reminder, that former theories and practices must not be abandoned in the past, to the contrary, they must be brought up to light, newly developed and adjusted for today’s society. Frankfurt School’s critical theory set out to challenge all previously accepted standards in every aspect of life from Marxist perspective. The thinkers of this school saw much within Marxism which could be employed to form a new foundation for post- Christian society. Truly inspiring and brave is that they were without doubt driven forward by an aim to totally change society, and metaphysics would have no place in this since their version of 'utopia' was of a wholly rationalistic and materialistic world. It maybe not exactly the version of ‘Utopia’ I support, it is definitely an interesting and positively astonishing idea of the new society.