German philosopher and sociologist, famous for his work in critical theory as a leader of the so-called “Frankfurt School,” a group of philosophers and social scientists associated with the Institut für Sozialforschung (Institute of Social Research) in Frankfurt am Main.
Horkheimer was the director of the Institute and Professor of Social Philosophy at the University of Frankfurt from 1930–1933, and again from 1949–1958. In between those periods he would lead the Institute in exile, primarily in America. Shortly after Hitler was named Chancellor in 1933, the Institute in Frankfurt was closed and its building seized by the Gestapo. Horkheimer was also relieved of his professorship and directorship in early 1933, and relocated to Geneva, where the Institute had opened a satellite office. In 1934 Horkheimer moved to New York.
As a philosopher he is best known for his work during the 1940s, including Dialectic of Enlightenment, which was co-authored with Theodor Adorno. His writings from the 1930s, were largely responsible for developing the epistemological and methodological orientation of Frankfurt School critical theory. His work influenced his contemporaries and has had an enduring influence on critical theory’s later practitioners (including Jürgen Habermas). Horkheimer collaborated with Herbert Marcuse, Erich Fromm, Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin.
He remained an important figure until his death in Nuremberg on 7 July 1973, Nuremberg.

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