PHILOSOPHER

Max Horkheimer

1895 - 1973

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Max Horkheimer ( HORK-hy-mər; German: [ˈhɔɐ̯kˌhaɪmɐ]; 14 February 1895 – 7 July 1973) was a German philosopher and sociologist best known for his role in developing critical theory as director of the Institute for Social Research, commonly associated with the Frankfurt School. Advancing a materialist theory of reason and society, Horkheimer analyzed the rise of instrumental reason, the erosion of the concept of truth, the decline of individual autonomy, the social-psychological roots of authoritarianism, and the reproduction of domination under modern capitalism. These concerns became fundamental to critical theory. His most influential works include Eclipse of Reason (1947), Dialectic of Enlightenment (1947, with Theodor W. Adorno), and a series of foundational essays written in the 1930s for the Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung, later collected in Between Philosophy and Social Science and Critical Theory: Selected Essays. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Max Horkheimer is the 197th most popular philosopher (down from 168th in 2019), the 348th most popular biography from Germany (down from 278th in 2019) and the 31st most popular German Philosopher.

Max Horkheimer is most famous for being one of the founders of the Frankfurt School. The Frankfurt School was a group of philosophers, sociologists, and political theorists who were critical of capitalism and the culture industry.

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Among PHILOSOPHERS

Among philosophers, Max Horkheimer ranks 197 out of 1,267Before him are Pierre Bayle, Kabir, Apollonius of Tyana, Ernest Renan, Nicolas Malebranche, and John Rawls. After him are Christian Wolff, Diotima of Mantinea, Slavoj Žižek, Karl Kautsky, Étienne Bonnot de Condillac, and Diogenes of Apollonia.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1895, Max Horkheimer ranks 19Before him are Jiddu Krishnamurti, Nikolai Yezhov, Mikhail Bakhtin, Richard Sorge, Wilm Hosenfeld, and William Giauque. After him are Paul Éluard, Paul Hindemith, Semyon Timoshenko, Ragnar Frisch, Dolores Ibárruri, and Gerhard Domagk. Among people deceased in 1973, Max Horkheimer ranks 27Before him are John Ford, Karl Ziegler, Ludwig von Mises, Charles Greeley Abbot, Anna Magnani, and Ferdinand Schörner. After him are Ragnar Frisch, Pablo Casals, Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, Selman Waksman, Semyon Budyonny, and Gabriel Marcel.

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In Germany

Among people born in Germany, Max Horkheimer ranks 348 out of 7,253Before him are Heinrich Louis d'Arrest (1822), Georgy Lvov (1861), Karl May (1842), Theodor Heuss (1884), Simone Signoret (1921), and Ferdinand Schörner (1892). After him are Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (1955), Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945), Christian V of Denmark (1646), Otto of Bavaria (1848), Arno Allan Penzias (1933), and Paul Hindemith (1895).

Among PHILOSOPHERS In Germany

Among philosophers born in Germany, Max Horkheimer ranks 31Before him are Max Scheler (1874), Oswald Spengler (1880), Herbert Marcuse (1898), Athanasius Kircher (1602), Ferdinand Tönnies (1855), and Carl Schmitt (1888). After him are Rudolf Carnap (1891), Moses Mendelssohn (1729), Ernst Bloch (1885), Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743), Franz Brentano (1838), and Adam Weishaupt (1748).