Summary: Philosophy is always based on self-reflection. But in Hegel, self-reflection is liberated from introspection. He explains bourgeois society as the movements and conflicts of individuals satisfying their self-interest; but in doing so, they also satisfy the interests of others. In this, they come together to maintain the totality. This development happens independently of any individual consciousness: Reason itself cunningly uses individual interests to further develop itself. The purpose of reason is ultimately realised in world spirit, which develops in conflicts between nations and their national spirits. Whereas from an empirical perspective individual persons, or even whole peoples are slaughtered in the events of history, philosophy transfigures actuality into rationality, and thereby shows these events as being grounded in reason. The nature of humanity is not located in the individual, but realises itself in the movements of peoples and in the state. The state does not exist for its citizens; it is the end for which citizens are the means. When Hegel’s philosophy fell out of favour, life, suffering, and death came to be seen as brute facts, and thus ultimately meaningless. The final aim of social philosophy is interpreting the fate of humanity, of humans not as individuals, but as members of a community. In this, it can satisfy the yearning of individuals for meaning in a greater totality. We thus need a development of philosophical theory and scientific practice in constant mutual dialectical interpenetration: Philosophy should give general impulses to research, but stay open to research developments and their ability to change philosophy. We have to organise interdisciplinary research of philosophers, sociologists, economists, historians, and psychologists; all on the basis of philosophical questions. In this way, questions are not simply be answered, but their meaning is itself being transformed by research. The Institute for Social Research will look at the skilled labourers and employees in Germany today, and ask: What connections can be shown between the role of this group in economic processes, in changes in the psychological structure of group members, and the thoughts and institutions created by and effecting this group? Such a question demands empirical research, which is exactly what we want to do. Let our general impulse be the will to serve the truth without any other regards.



Source: Max Horkheimer (1931) Die gegenwärtige Lage der Sozialphilosophie und die Aufgaben eines Instituts für Sozialforschung. Inaugural lecture after taking the chair in Social Philosophy and the directorate of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt on 24th of January 1931. Translated by John Torpey as The Present Situation of Social Philosophy and the Tasks of an Institute for Social Research. Published in Horkheimer (1993) Between Philosophy and Social Science. Selected Early Writings. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1993.

(Full text at marxists.org, English) If you know of a free online version of the German original, please contact txteo on twitter.



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Detailed Summary

[This summary is mostly based on the German text, as published in “Gesammelte Schriften 3”, with the English text as backup. It is thus a hybrid of summary and translation.]