Introduction

Picture if you will a smoke filled room in a 19th century Men’s only club. The room is the site of an extended conversation. There is a primary conversation where a group of very old men present the questions and set the tone of the discussions. Everyone in the room is in some manner reacting to the old men’s ideas. The truly profound, innovative, or outlandish assert their own observations, and attempt to enter into dialogue with the old men. People come in and out of the room. Some gather around their favorite speaker, and some are drawn to particular groups because of shared interest in a particular subject.

The room is the whole of Western philosophy. The old men are classical philosophers such as Socrates and Plato. The profound, innovative and outlandish, are the more modern thinkers such as Hegel and Marx. Finally, the members of the Frankfurt school fit the category of those gathered ‘round their favorite speaker. The Frankfurt school is not a place, but a school of thought, a group of similar theories that focus on the same topic. The thought of the Frankfurt school is a dialogue, that resulted after Karl Marx added his proverbial "two cents" to the ongoing conversation of philosophy.

The scholars that made up the Frankfurt school were all directly, or indirectly associated with a place called the Institute of Social Research. The nickname of the thinkers, originates in the location of the institute, Frankfurt Germany. The names of the men who made significant contributions to this school of thought are, Theodor W. Adorno (philosopher, sociologist and musicologist), Walter Benjamin (essayist and literary critic), Herbert Marcuse (philosopher), Max Horkheimer (philosopher, sociologist), and later, Jurgen Habermas. Each of these philosophers believed, and shared Karl Marx’s theory of Historical Materialism. Each of these individuals observed the beginning of Communism in Russia, and the resulting fascism in Italy. They lived through the first world war, the rise and fall of Hitler, and of course the devastation of the Holocaust. They formed reactions that were attempts to reconcile Marxist theory with the reality of what the people and governments of the world were going through. Each member of the Frankfurt school adjusted Marxism with his additions, or "fix" if you will. They then used the "fixed" Marxist theory as a measure modern society needed to meet. These ideas came to be known as "Critical Theory."

We hope you enjoy the site! We suggest you visit the Background and Important Philosophical Notes sections, before you read the summaries of each philosopher. The Definitions page is linked to all the philosophical jargon you might come across so be sure to make good use of them. And, remember, the site is not meant to be an exhaustive study of the of the Frankfurt, school. Instead our goal is to provide a gentle, clear and concise introduction to the ideas and the philosophers of the Frankfurt school, and we hope we have achieved that end.

See ya!