In the 1960s it was followed by the positivist dispute in german sociology in both controversies one party pretended to provide ethical knowledge and questioned the distinction between what is and what should be in 1961 at a conference of the german sociological association karl popper and theodor w adorno gave lectures on the logic of the social sciences while popper tried to contribute to methodology adorno pleaded for a dialectical philosophy of society in 1963 jurgen . This article offers a re contextualization of the positivism dispute between the frankfurt school and advocates of empirical sociology in the german sociological profession between 1954 and 1970 investigating the reasons why the german sociological association convened in tubingen in october 1961 it assigns a more peripheral role to karl popper and this now famous seminar focusing instead on the debate among german sociologists from the mid 1950s which prompted the convention of the . The positivist dispute in german sociology theodor w adorno hans albert ralf dahrendorf jurgen habermas harald pilot karl r popper translated by glyn adey and david frisby heinemann london heinemann educational books ltd london edinburgh meloournb auckland ioronto hong kong si ngapore koala lumpur jbadan nairobi j ohannesburg lusa ka new delhi isbn o 435 82655 7 paperback isbn o 435 8z656 5 1969 herman luchterhand verlag 1976 english translation heinemann educational books published by