[FRA:] Max Horkheimer on Religion

[Ralph Dumain]

In re:

Brittain, Christopher Craig. "Social Theory and the Premise of All 
Criticism: Max Horkheimer on Religion," Critical Sociology, vol. 31, 
no. 1-2, pp. 153-168, 2005.


Brittain, a professor of theology, himself has nothing worthwhile to 
say, but his collocation of comments by and about Horkheimer is 
useful.  A number Horkheimer's works are quoted, but the specific 
ones pertaining to religion are:

Dawn & Decline: Notes 1926-1931 and 1950-1969, translated by Michael 
Shaw, with an afterword by Eike Gebhardt. New York: Seabury Press, 1978.

"Thoughts on Religion," in Critical Theory: Selected Essays, 
translated by Matthew J. O'Connell et al (New York: The Seabury Press 
(Continuum), 1972), pp. 129-131.

"On the Problem of Truth," in Between Philosophy and Social Science: 
Selected Early Writings, translated by G. Frederick Hunter, Matthew 
S. Kramer and John Torpey (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1993) pp. 
177-215.  Quote from p. 215.

"Theism and Atheism," in: Critique of Instrumental Reason: Lectures 
and Essays Since the End of World War II, translated by Matthew J. 
O'Connell et al (New York: Continuum, [1985], 1974).

"Pessimism Today": German only source given.

"Longing for the Wholly Other" (1970): German only source given.

And note this reference:

Habermas, Jurgen. "To Seek to Salvage an Unconditional Meaning 
Without God is a Futile Undertaking: Reflections on a Remark of Max 
Horkheimer," in Justification and Application: Remarks on Discourse 
Ethics, translated by Ciaran Cronin (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1993), 
pp. 133-146.


Brittain quotes from all these sources.  His earlier essays link 
theistic impulses to the hope for a better world, which it seems can 
be redirected into a secular world view.  There is nothing 
particularly "incriminating" here. His later essays are more 
problematic. His negative role for critical theory--in which a just 
society cannot be positively described but the unjust can be 
criticized--is likened unto the Jewish prohibition against idolatry: 
God can only be approached via the negative path.

Judging from the quotes, only "Longing for the Wholly Other"  and 
"Theism and Atheism" take a decidedly pro-theological stance.

This late stance has been criticized merciless from a number of 
quarters, e.g. by Klaus Kremer and Wiebrecht Ries.

Another important thematic in this article is the critique of 
scientism, which Horkheimer views as a truncation of and threat to a 
complete rationality and a liberated society. Brittain traces a 
thread through the course of Horkheimer's writing in which the 
theological point of view represents some counterweight to this 
tendency, but I don't see anything really incriminating save for the 
aforementioned two essays.  Brittain contrasts the view of Sidney 
Hook, according to whom the misapplications of science can be 
corrected by more science ("The Failure of Nerve"), with Horkheimer's 
criticism of Hook in The Eclipse of Reason.

Horkheimer's quest for susbtantive reason and objective truth is 
never clearly spelled out, and in the end he apparently despairs of 
finding a secure ground for it outside of theism, but again, only as 
a standard of negativity against which to measure the fallen world.

Habermas rakes Horkheimer over the coals for his capitulation to 
unreason. Habermas maintains Horkheimer's dilemma can be overcome via 
the "linguistification of the sacred".  This is pretty lame idealist 
baloney, but Brittain compare Habermas' position to Hook's. Adorno, 
like Horkheimer, was rather unconvinced concerning the potential of 
intersubjectivity.

I wonder how Habermas today relates to the Habermas of 1993.

Brittain concludes that Horkheimer approaches religion 
postmetaphysically, as a bulwark against dogmatism, functioning in a 
negative and critical manner rather than in a positive transcendental fashion.

As for Brittain's agenda:

"Although many of these reflections remain fragmentary and 
undeveloped, Horkheimer's reflections on religion suggest avenues for 
an ongoing and fruitful dialogue between historical materialism and religion."

Horseshit!