Max Horkheimer is best known as one of the leading members of the Frankfurt school, and one of the leading proponents of what he called "critical theory." Born near Stuttgart, Germany, the son of a wealthy Jewish industrialist, Horkheimer attended University of Frankfurt, where he completed his doctoral dissertation, a study of German philosopher Immanuel Kant's Critique of Judgement. In 1930, Horkheimer became the director of the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, marking a turning point both for Horkheimer and the Institute. Prior to his tenure as director, Horkheimer was relatively unknown, and the Institute itself did not deviate much from traditional Marxist theory and research. However, the rise of Joseph Stalin's brutal dictatorship in the Soviet Union and of Nazism in Germany deeply affected Horkheimer and the Institute, prompting them to move from Frankfurt to New York City in 1935 to escape Nazi oppression.

In 1937, Horkheimer published the...