ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the debate between critical theory and critical rationalism in the 1960s. The Karl Popper and Theodor Adorno debate in Tubingen produced another round of fascinating discussions surrounding issues of the concepts, logic, and methods of social science. For Karl Popper, objectivity refers to "scientific objectivity" and the interests of science, whereas Theodor Adorno uses the term "social objectivity" to refer to the totality of relationships, values, and structures in society. The methodological dispute of the early 1960s continued under the partisanship of Jurgen Habermas and Hans Albert who set out to build upon the Karl Popper-Theodor Adorno discussions. Hans Albert is critical of the traditional approaches of rationalism and empiricism because they both express the Munchhausen trilemma and are thereby guilty of infinite regress, logical circularity, and arbitrary decisionism. Hans Albert accuses Jurgen Habermas of establishing an elaborate sociological and philosophical facade behind which hide arbitrary and metaphysical values.
