For Nonconformism: Max Horkheimer and Friedrich Pollock

Subject of numerous interpretations and studies, the vicissitudes of the famous Frankfurt Institute for Social Research nevertheless still contain some little-known sagas. One of these less discussed stories is the human and scientific relationship that bound philosopher Max Horkheimer and economist Friedrich Pollock for over fifty years.

Based on texts and letters translated here into English for the first time, as well as some previously unpublished documents, For Nonconformism reconstructs the crucial moments in the friendship between the two scholars with an engaging narrative style and unwavering philological accuracy. Nicola Emery accompanies readers through a tour of the two friends and intellectuals' 'nonconformism' and their search for an alternative life-form that led to the birth of Frankfurt critical theory.

ISBN: 9781642599978

Publication date: November 14, 2023

Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
Translator’s Note

1 For Nonconformism
 1.1 Transgression, Autobiography, Philosophy
 1.2 Forms of Life
 1.3 Psyche and History
 1.4 Biopower and the Hidden Faculties of Existence (Eroticism, Friendship, Art)

2 The Era of State Capitalism: Morphology and Genesis Starting from Friedrich Pollock
 2.1 Friedrich Pollock’s Ideal Type
 2.2 Between Domination and Welfare

3 Expatriation, Disorientation, Islands
 3.1 Leaving Germany (Eichmann Trial, Israel and the Atlantic Pact)
 3.2 Free from the Coercion of the Reality Principle (Switzerland)
 3.3 Beyond Instrumental Architecture (the Houses in Montagnola)

4 Automation and the Eclipse of Democracy
 4.1 Era of Automation and Crisis: Pollock’s Prognosis
 4.2 Is Critical Theory Antiquated?

5 Critical Theory and Longing for the Other
 5.1 The Absent Alterity
 5.2 Critique of Instrumental Reason and Religion
 5.3 Critical Judaism (beyond Identity, beyond Sovereignty, beyond Zionism)

Appendix: Figures
Bibliography
Index