Modernity and philosophy in Max Horkheimer

On the contemporary relevance of critical theory

Raffaele Carbone

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Year: 2026
• Print ISBN:
  9781807070311
• eBook ISBN:
  9781807070304
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Critical Theory

This book shows that Max Horkheimer's program of critical theory and his research throughout his career as a university professor and thinker are rooted in the cogency of philosophical questions and an in-depth knowledge of the historical development of philosophical problems in their close correlation with the socio-economic framework which shaped the 'bourgeois society' and the Modern Era. Indeed, his analyses of modern philosophers allows us to understand how the bourgeoisie seeks legitimisation and consolidation of its position, partly through the voices of its thinkers. In this way, in his investigation of early modern philosophy problems, and through constant dialogue with his colleagues Adorno, Marcuse, Pollock and Fromm, Horkheimer expresses a profound awareness of the critical force inherent in thought which, admittedly, is ever vulnerable to crisis and weakening, but which can always be reactivated.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 The analysis and critique of bourgeois society and its thinkers: premises and developments
• 2 Figures of modern philosophy in Horkheimer’s writings and lectures from the second half of the 1920s to the post-World War II period
• 3 Genealogy of modernity and critical theory: the reflection on bourgeois society and modern thought in Horkheimer’s writings of the 1930s and 1940s
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index