Selected Works of the Frankfurt School (Volume 1)

Author: Compiled by the Research Institute of Foreign Philosophy, Institute of Philosophy, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1998-10-01
Features: The Frankfurt School is the largest and most significant school within Western Marxism. It was founded in the early 1930s as a scholarly group composed of philosophers, sociologists, psychologists, political scientists, economists, jurists, and literary theorists, with its own research institute and academic journal. It inherited the tradition of "critical Marxism" from the founders of Western Marxism, Lukács and Korsch, and integrated Freud's psychoanalysis as well as certain perspectives from other modern foreign philosophical schools. Through interdisciplinary research and analysis of modern capitalist society, it developed its unique "critical social theory." In the late 1960s, this theory became one of the ideological weapons of the student uprisings that swept across North America and Western Europe in 1968. As a radical theory, it had a significant social impact in the Western world, and its prominent figures—Horkheimer, Marcuse, and Habermas—were hailed as outstanding thinkers of the contemporary era. With the decline of the New Left movement, the successive deaths of its key figures, and the deepening theoretical divisions and divergences within the school, the Frankfurt School, in its original sense as a clearly、large, and influential group, has become a part of history. However, many of its fundamental theoretical perspectives continue to be studied and applied in contemporary Western philosophy and sociology, and its second and third-generation representatives, such as Habermas and Schmidt, still hold considerable influence in the Western intellectual world. Studying the Frankfurt School seriously carries both theoretical and practical significance. It not only helps us understand contemporary Western philosophy, sociology, and Western society but also allows us to critically absorb and transform its valuable ideological materials, which may serve as a reference for further research and development of Marxism. For this purpose, we have compiled this selected works to meet the needs of academic and theoretical research in China. This two-volume collection contains over a million words and is selected from key chapters of important works and significant essays by the school's major representatives, striving to preserve its distinctive social philosophy while also covering related theoretical aspects. Given the large number of members in the school and the vast amount of its writings, as well as the complexity and obscurity of its texts, along with the limitations of our available resources, expertise, and foreign language proficiency, there may be numerous omissions and errors in the selection, translation, proofreading, and editing. We sincerely invite readers to point out any flaws.
In 1979, at the "National Conference on Modern Foreign Philosophy" held in Taiyuan, Zhu Qingzuo accepted the task of compiling this book on behalf of our research room. Later, due to changes in his position, Fan Mingsheng took over the leadership and responsibility for the selection of materials. Zhang Wei was responsible for the overall editing of the book. Additionally, Guo Guanyi from the Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, participated in the selection, translation, and proofreading of Habermas's works. Some professors from Wuhan University, Fudan University, and Anhui University also contributed to the translation of this book. We express our sincere gratitude for their hard work and generous assistance.