The Frankfurt School It was a school of social theory and critical philosophy. It is the formal name given to a group of researchers and intellectuals who studied and developed new theories about the social evolution of the twentieth century.
This School formally existed as part of the Institute of Social Research, an entity attached to the Goethe University in Frankfurt.
This niche of social thought was founded in the Weimar Republic in 1919, and it would work for more than two decades, the same period that separated both World Wars.
The Frankfurt School welcomed academics and political dissidents who maintained a position adverse to the main economic and social currents of the moment, such as the capitalism and the Marxism .
Focusing on the economic, political and social evolution contained in twentieth century society, the members of the Frankfurt School considered that the theories handled and applied in the 19th century were no longer relevant to explain the new mechanisms of society worldwide .
His works stood out for exploring other lines of thought and disciplines for the conception and reflection of the new social order.
The postulates of the Frankfurt School continue to be a reference in the modern study of certain processes and sciences such as communication, for example.
Its importance has extended until the 21st century, now taking the proposal to continue reflecting on them in the face of contemporary society.
History of the Frankfurt School
The Institute of Social Research was founded in 1923, as part of the Goethe University in Frankfurt.
In their corridors begin to develop theories and proposals quite influenced by the Marxist-Leninist currents, promoted mainly by its founder, Carl Grunberg.
The experimentation and the investigative success that Grunberg made with other invited academics impelled him to formalize the permanence of the institution and its recognition as a university academic headquarters.
In times of oppressive political and social systems of other European nations, the Institute of Social Research and the same Grunberg begin to welcome researchers from other latitudes.
Maintaining their original position, these researchers decide to contribute to the projects developed in pursuit of a new understanding of the society of that time. The Frankfurt School is born properly.
It is estimated that the Frankfurt School reaches its peak in 1930, with the arrival of Max Horkheimer as director.
This man extends an invitation and manages to attract other thinkers whose names would be recognized until today, such as Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Erich Froom, among others.
The rise of Hitler to power during the 1930s and the initiation and consolidation of Nazism complicated the continuity of the work carried out within the framework of the School.
The persecution imposed by the Nazis on the intellectuals forced the members to move the entire Social Research Institute first out of Nazi Germany, and then out of Europe, landing in New York.
Characteristics of the Frankfurt School
The work carried out by the member authors of the Frankfurt School can be considered as a multidisciplinary approach to the study and reflection of theories and social phenomena.
Although they maintained an adverse position to the main present currents of thought (that had their beginnings in the past centuries), the investigators were based on the critical theory of Marxism.
They were inclined towards idealism and even existentialism for the development of their postulates. They put aside thoughts like positivism or materialism.
They developed their own concept of criticism as a way to approach and complement previous thinking. They were based on the critical philosophy proposed by Kant long ago; the dialectic and the contradiction as intellectual properties.
Among the main influences of the Frankfurt School thinkers are the social guidelines proposed by Max Weber, Marxist philosophy and Freudian Marxism, antipositivism, modern aesthetics and studies on popular cultures.
Main theorists and works of the Frankfurt School
Among all the intellectuals linked to the Frankfurt School can be counted more than 15. However, not all worked together during the same time.
Among some of the names that began his work at the Frankfurt School are Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse, Pollock.
Later, researchers such as Albrecht Wellmer, Jurgen Habermas and Alfred Schmidt would come to the School, who would leave an indelible mark through their works, which have an impact on modern understanding of certain social aspects.
The three generations
There are three generations of members of the Frankfurt School, with a greater number of names than those mentioned.
Apart from these, a series of intellectuals who were linked to the School are also considered, although they have not been considered members or have not developed the most influential part of their work, such as Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin and Siegfried Kracauer.
As a basis to the main works born from the Frankfurt School, is the development and implementation of critical theory, confronted against the traditional for the first time thanks to Max Horkheimer, in his work Traditional and critical theory, published in 1937
In the field of communication, the contributions of Jurgen Habermas would stand out, specifically the conception and development of communicative rationality, linguistic intersubjectivity, and the development of the philosophical discourse of modernity.
The dialectic of enlightenment was a work of great importance published by Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, in which he reflects and seeks to demonstrate that the qualities of the man of the West come from his domination of nature.
As well as those mentioned, the Frankfurt School has a large number of publications that influenced modern social thought.
Authors linked to the School also left their mark, like Walter Benjamin, who approached the scope and the capacity of social influence that the arts possessed and the nascent practices of reproduction around them; its potential for massification and cancellation of its exclusive or elitist character compared to the ancient arts.
First generation
- Max Horkheimer
- Theodor W. Adorno
- Herbert Marcuse
- Friedrich Pollock
- Erich Fromm
- Otto Kirchheimer
- Leo Löwenthal (in)
- Franz Leopold Neumann
Second generation
- Jürgen Habermas
- Karl-Otto Apel
- Oskar Negt
- Alfred Schmidt
- Albrecht Wellmer
Third generation
- Axel Honneth
Other people linked
- Siegfried Kracauer
- Karl August Wittfogel
- Alfred Sohn-Rethel
- Walter Benjamin
- Ernst Bloch
- Hannah Arendt
- Bertrand Russell
- Albert Einstein
- Enzo Traverso
References
- Arato, A., & Gebhardt, E. (1985). The Essential Frankfurt School Reader. New York: The Continuum Publishing Company.
- Bottomore, T. B. (2002). The Frankfurt School and Its Critics. London: Routledge.
- Geuss, R. (1999). The Idea of a Critical Theory: Habermas and the Frankfurt School. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Tar, Z. (2011). The Frankfurt School: The Critical Theories of Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
- Wiggershaus, R. (1995). The Frankfurt School: Its History, Theories, and Political Significance. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
- Frankfurt School, 7 Oct 2017. Taken from wikipedia.org.