FRANKFURT SCHOOL: CHARACTERISTICS AND REPRESENTATIVES - HISTORY - 2025

The Frankfurt School 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 20th century.

This School formally existed as part of the Institute for Social Research, an entity attached to the Goethe University of Frankfurt. This niche of social thought was founded in the Weimar Republic in 1919, and would operate for more than two decades, the same period that separated the two World Wars.

Members of the Frankfurt School. Karl August Wittfogel, Rose Wittfogel (1889–), unbekannt, Christiane Sorge, Karl Korsch, Hedda Korsch, Käthe Weil, Margarete Lissauer (1876–1932), Béla Fogarasi, Gertrud Alexander - stehend v. li. n. re.: Hede Massing, Friedrich Pollock, Eduard Ludwig Alexander, Konstantin Zetkin, Georg Lukács, Julian Gumperz, Richard Sorge, Karl Alexander (Kind), Felix Weil. Source: See page for author

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 capitalism and Marxism.

Focusing on the economic, political and social evolution contained in the society of the 20th century, 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 on a global level..

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 into the 21st century, now taking what is proposed to continue reflecting on them in front of contemporary society.

History of the Frankfurt School

The Institute for Social Research was founded in 1923, as part of the Goethe University in Frankfurt.

In its corridors, theories and proposals quite influenced by Marxist-Leninist currents began to develop, promoted mainly by its founder, Carl Grunberg.

The experimentation and investigative success that Grunberg carried out with other invited scholars prompted him to formalize the permanence of the institution and its recognition as a university academic headquarters.

In times of oppressive political and social systems in other European nations, the Institute for Social Research and Grunberg himself began to host researchers from other latitudes.

Maintaining their original position, these researchers decided to contribute to the projects developed in pursuit of a new understanding of society at that time. The Frankfurt School is born properly.

It is estimated that the Frankfurt School reached 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.

Hitler's rise to power during the 1930s and the initiation and consolidation of Nazism made the continuity of the work carried out within the framework of the School quite complicated.

The persecution imposed by the Nazis on intellectuals forced the members to move the entirety of the Institute for Social Research first out of Nazi Germany, and then out of Europe, landing in New York.

Characteristics of the Frankfurt School

The works 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 currents of present thought (which had their beginnings in past centuries), the researchers 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 of addressing and complementing the previous thinking. They were based on the critical philosophy proposed by Kant long ago; dialectic and contradiction as intellectual properties.

Among the main influences of the thinkers of the Frankfurt School we can find the social guidelines proposed by Max Weber, Marxist philosophy and Freudian Marxism, anti-positivism, modern aesthetics and studies on popular cultures.

Main theorists and works of the Frankfurt School

Among all the intellectuals linked to the Frankfurt School there can be more than 15. However, not all worked together during the same time.

Among some of the names who began their work at the Frankfurt School are Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse, Pollock.

Later, some researchers such as Albrecht Wellmer, Jurgen Habermas, Alfred Schmidt would arrive at the School, who would leave an indelible mark through their work, which has an impact on modern understanding of certain social aspects.

The three generations

Three generations of members of the Frankfurt School are counted, 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 its work, such as Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin and Siegfried Kracauer.

As a basis for 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 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 it is reflected and seeks to demonstrate that the qualities of Western man 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, such as Walter Benjamin, who addressed the scope and capacity for social influence possessed by the arts and the nascent reproduction practices 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 (en)
• Franz Leopold Neumann

Second generation

• Jürgen Habermas
• Karl-Otto Apel
• Oskar Negt
• Alfred Schmidt
• Albrecht wellmer

Third generation

• Axel honneth

Other linked persons

• Siegfried Kracauer
• Karl August Wittfogel
• Alfred Sohn-Rethel
• Walter benjamin
• Ernst bloch
• Hannah arendt
• Bertrand Russell
• Albert Einstein
• Enzo Traverso

References

1. Arato, A., & Gebhardt, E. (1985). The Essential Frankfurt School Reader. New York: The Continuum Publishing Company.
2. Bottomore, TB (2002). The Frankfurt School and Its Critics. London: Routledge.
3. Geuss, R. (1999). The Idea of ​​a Critical Theory: Habermas and the Frankfurt School. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4. Tar, Z. (2011). The Frankfurt School: The Critical Theories of Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
5. Wiggershaus, R. (1995). The Frankfurt School: Its History, Theories, and Political Significance. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
6. Frankfurt School, Oct 7, 2017. Taken from wikipedia.org.