The Politics of the Unspoken in Max Horkheimer

Max Horkheimer has a special place in German critical theory. Unlike Adorno and others who lean on Hegelian paradigm, Horkheimer draws upon Schopenhauer’s metaphysics. Schopenhauer gives us a critique of representation which Horkheimer understands to be of a piece with instrumental rationality and so a critique of capitalism. This thesis argues that Horkheimer’s use of critique of representation is a break with Kantian First Critique notions of time, space and causation. It presents a deep linguistic reading of such a critique of representation and its categories as predicational or propositional language. From the standpoint of this linguistic reading, the study explores a Horkheimer-inspired politics based on the Kantian conception of hope and the Judaic prohibition of the image of God. This notion of hope is for Horkheimer conceived as a longing for the totally other. We explore these thematic as a philosophy of political practice to conclude with a theoretical framework for a politics of emancipation inspired by Horkheimer’s thought.