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The Formation and Development of M. Horkheimer's Critical Theory : The Road to Critique of Instrumental Reason

Japanese (日本語)

Intercultural Studies Review

38

95-119

神戸大学大学院国際文化学研究科

2025-03-18

The aim of this paper is to clearly distinguish the changes and continuities in Max Horkheimer (1895-1973)'s thought as his Critical Theory was formed and developed. Specifically, this paper will see how the methodology formulated in his critique of positivism and metaphysics (Traditional Theory) in the 30s was applied and reshaped in his Critique of Instrumental Reason in the 40s. First, this paper will reexamine several existing theories of the changes in Horkheimer's thought and point out the problems they overlook (Section II).From there, this paper reorganizes Horkheimer’s works from the 30s to the 40s into three periods (1930s, early 1940s, mid 1940s), before it reexamines them in context. As a result, it becomes clear why Critical Theory needed to change the focus of its critique from Traditional Theory to Instrumental Reason (III, IV, and V). In particular, Section V will engage with Dialectic of Enlightenment (1944/47) and Eclipse of Reason (1947), revealing two significant points: First, Horkheimer sees in “language” the possibility that Instrumental Reason can be criticized. Second, for him, philosophy is an effort to create a linguistic structure that achieves the adequation of name and thing.Finally, based on the findings from the previous sections, this paper concludes (Section VI) by demonstrating that, although Horkheimer's Critical Theory shifted its focus of critique from the 1930s to the 1940s, it consistently aimed to preserve the historical subject.

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