Currently—as was already the case towards the end of the 20th century—the question of the relevance of Horkheimer’s social philosophy arises not only in academic teaching and publishing, but especially when it comes to the theoretical self-reflection of the Left in the absence of a potential revolutionary subject. This aspect was already in the foreground when the historian of ideas Martin Jay published the first comprehensive presentation of the “Frankfurt School” about fifty years ago. At that time, he identified a dilemma of oppositional thinkers of undogmatic Western Marxism.