SOURCE: Tar, Zoltán. “The Critical Theory of Max Horkheimer.” In The Frankfurt School: The Critical Theories of Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, pp. 16-71. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1977.

In the following essay, Tar traces Horkheimer's work as director of the Frankfurt School and places his Critical Theory within the context of twentieth-century sociological, psychological, and political thought.

Institutional Background

The beginnings of the institutional matrix of the Frankfurt School date back to 1923, when the Institute for Social Research (Institut für Sozialforschung), affiliated with the University of Frankfurt, was founded. Felix J. Weil first proposed the idea of an institute of social research along Marxist lines. His father, Hermann Weil, had previously left Germany for South America to become a wealthy Argentinian grain dealer and financially supported the socialist ambitions of his son. Felix J. Weil, born and raised in Argentina, went to Frankfurt and...