# He Fa on Horkheimer

The Waistcoat Has Not Come Off Yet

Canonical: https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/hefa-on/hefa-lun-mc-m020-max-horkheimer
Language: en

The images and texts were developed collaboratively by He Fa and AI. The first-person voice belongs to an experiment in character; costume, posture and props are used to develop creative arguments, not as quotations from or summaries of the thought of the figures referenced.

![He Fa on Horkheimer: Max Horkheimer, generated character image](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/hefa-on/media/94c166a9ffae1be5e378.webp)

A waistcoat with many buttons sits beneath the dark jacket; the pale shirt and patterned tie separate the layers, and only a small pale corner shows from the breast pocket. Borrowing Horkheimer's outfit, I imagine a critic who can point out many problems in a room, yet still speaks from the comfortable seat the room provides.

Benefiting from an arrangement does not automatically invalidate criticism. Otherwise, only those wholly outside could speak, and they may not know how the problem works. A more practical demand is to state what one gains from it as well. The waistcoat can stay on; its being inside the jacket does not let me pretend it gives my body no extra warmth.

This face of He Fa's is suited to a less-than-flattering admission. I may resent elaborate rules while relying on their conveniences, or support openness while hoping first to protect my own quiet. Laying out the contradiction concretely will not solve it at once, but it can make the discussion concern more than changes required of others. If no part of criticism can touch the critic, its sharpness may sometimes be an effect of distance alone.

Conversely, requiring critics to be entirely innocent first would protect the status quo forever. Demanding that every layer be removed before cold can be discussed is itself unreasonable. What should be tested is what the criticism reveals, how proposed revisions distribute costs, and whether the speaker will accept the same rules—not whether an ideal body free of all dependence can be found.

The patterned tie remains at my chest, and the waistcoat may not be removable today. I am willing first to acknowledge the consequences of one of its buttons: which convenience can be adjusted, and which losses must not be transferred to people with fewer choices? If clarity can move from a judgment to an act of sharing the burden, it begins to leave its old comfortable position.