Collected Writings XVIII

The letters from and to Max Horkheimer contained in volumes 15 - 18 are a history of the "Frankfurt School" in self-testimonies, centred around Horkheimer as its spiritus rector. They are rich sources for the history of a phenomenon that is probably unique in the social sciences: Emigration, exile and return of a complete research institute of world renown. Last but not least, the documents shed light on the complicated interplay of personal inclinations and relationships, political constraints and theoretical demands, without which an adequate understanding of Critical Theory is hardly conceivable. The correspondence printed in volume 18 from the period after Horkheimer and Adorno's return from emigration proves that the Dialectic of Enlightenment, which was already completed in 1944, remains binding as a theoretical interpretative background. Not least in view of the political conditions in the "Eastern Bloc", however, democratic institutions - despite their unmistakable tendency towards an "administered world" - now appear as the last placeholders of what can no longer be realised in practice: a free society. This resigned moment of critical theory, however, can no longer be reconciled with the "system-changing" impulse of the student movement of 1967/68 - a conflict that is reflected in a large number of letters in a way that is as dramatic as it is painful. The letters are reproduced unabridged and annotated by the editor. All foreign-language letters are accompanied by a German translation. Volume 18 also contains an epilogue by the editor, an explanation of the editing principles and an index of names and works for the entire letter edition.