On the Topic of the 'Frankfurt School'

When in some socialist debate group and someone utters 'Frankfurt School' philosophy.....this leads back to a historical piece of German culture, and you probably need to know some basic facts.

Frankfurt (the city) has one significant university....the Goethe University (on the west side of town).  It was a public university established in the summer of 1914, and started it's first classes that fall (just as the war started).  It should be stated early on in this description....that this was largely financed by the wealthy and upper-class of Frankfurt.  The original name was the University of Frankfurt, with the name change to Goethe in the early 1930s.

Oddly enough, the school was a blending machine for Jewish and liberal social thought.

So the driving force for the school?  Social change.  Great minds, intellectual processes, and smart people knowing the answers....probably would be the way that the Frankfurt School advertised itself.

In this period after WW I....it's safe to say in the Weimar Republic period....those associated with the School were moving society swiftly and with purpose to the liberal side of the spectrum.  By the late 1920s.....the university was viewing the future ahead and coming to the realization that they'd pushed the envelope as far as possible.

So they packed up in 1932 (when the Nazis came to power) and the true base of the Frankfurt School left for Geneva.  That period lasted three years.....then the Frankfurt School moved it's base of operations to the Columbia University of New York.....where it stayed until a decade after WW II ended.  Bits and pieces of the Frankfurt School remained at Columbia.....while the rest located back to Frankfurt in the mid-1950s.

The 68-er movement in Germany....which started in 1968?  Well....it basically started out of Frankfurt....a decade after the Frankfurt School relocated back there to the Goethe University.  You can assume that a fair portion of the riots and anarchy talk of the late 1960s.....goes back to the philosophy of the Frankfurt School.

The real drive of the Frankfurt School?  Basically, they'd like to convince you of the evil nature of commerce and capitalism.  In some ways, those influenced by the propaganda and talk....are romantics at heart.....seeking to be part of some greater 'good' in life, they are prepared to sacrifice themselves for their ideals.

Oddly enough, which most seem to forget.....President Obama spent two years at Columbia University and likely bumped into various professors who were part of the Frankfurt School of thought.