Herbert Marcuse’s An Essay on Liberation -- Essay Liberation Marcuse

Herbert Marcuses An Essay on LiberationWe know that the economic evolution of the contemporary world refutes a certain number of the postulates of Marx. If the revolution is to expire at the end of two parallel movements, the unconditioned shrinking of capital and the unlimited expansion of the proletariat, it will not occur or ought not to hasten occurred. Capital and proletariat have both been equally unfaithful to Marx. - Albert Camus, 1953 The validity of Marxist political theory has been seriously challenged by the realities of European civilization, both during the inter-war eld and especially after WWII. The threat has been two-fold on the one hand, was the refusal of capitalism to fail, a disaster that Marxists had been predicting as immanent ever since the mid-twentieth century on the other, was the failure of the Soviet Union to build a successful or humane society. Marxists living in the West, beyond the reach of Soviet suppression, have attempted to split u p a comprehensive theory more in tune with the complexities of contemporary society than chaste Marxism. Most prominent among these Western Marxists is a group known as the Frankfurt School. An eclectic group of bright intellectuals who fled Germany in the 1930s, they have sought to develop a critical theory that blends Freud and Weber (among others) with Marx. Herbert Marcuses An Essay on Liberation is an example of how they have attempted to keep their social and revolutionary theories relevant and vital. It deals with an increasingly complex society in an increasingly sophisticated manner. This travail creates an interesting historical tension within Marcuses work because the complexity of his abbreviation makes it impossible to adhere t... ...an potential to achieve a balance betwixt the spiritual (world of the mind) and the material (the objective world). Marcuse mentions Kant, but this section of his work borrows most to a great extent from Friedrich Schillers The Aesthetic Education of Man. Bibliography All quotations and references are from Herbert Marcuse, An Essay on Liberation. Boston Beacon, 1969. Although no secondary works were used to prepare this paper, the following books provided the required background for my interpretation. Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents, trans. James Strachey. New York Norton, 1961. Schiller, Friedrich. The Aesthetic Education of Man. Oxford Clarendon Press, 1967. Tucker, Robert, ed. The Marx Engels Reader, second ed. New York Norton, 1978. Weber, Max. Essays in Sociology, eds. Gerth and Mills. Oxford Oxford University Press, 1946. Herbert Marcuses An Essay on Liberation -- Essay Liberation MarcuseHerbert Marcuses An Essay on LiberationWe know that the economic evolution of the contemporary world refutes a certain number of the postulates of Marx. If the revolution is to occur at the end of two parallel movements, the unlimited shrinking of capital and the unlimited expansion of the proletariat, it will not occur or ought not to have occurred. Capital and proletariat have both been equally unfaithful to Marx. - Albert Camus, 1953 The validity of Marxist political theory has been seriously challenged by the realities of European civilization, both during the inter-war years and especially after WWII. The threat has been two-fold on the one hand, was the refusal of capitalism to fail, a failure that Marxists had been predicting as immanent ever since the mid-twentieth century on the other, was the failure of the Soviet Union to build a successful or humane society. Marxists living in the West, beyond the reach of Soviet suppression, have attempted to develop a comprehensive theory more in tune with the complexities of contemporary society than Classical Marxism. Most prominent among these Western Marxists is a group known as the Frankfurt School. An eclectic group of bright intellectuals who fled Germany in the 1930s, they have sought to devel op a critical theory that blends Freud and Weber (among others) with Marx. Herbert Marcuses An Essay on Liberation is an example of how they have attempted to keep their social and revolutionary theories relevant and vital. It deals with an increasingly complex society in an increasingly sophisticated manner. This effort creates an interesting historical tension within Marcuses work because the complexity of his analysis makes it impossible to adhere t... ...an potential to achieve a balance between the spiritual (world of the mind) and the material (the objective world). Marcuse mentions Kant, but this section of his work borrows most heavily from Friedrich Schillers The Aesthetic Education of Man. Bibliography All quotations and references are from Herbert Marcuse, An Essay on Liberation. Boston Beacon, 1969. Although no secondary works were used to prepare this paper, the following books provided the necessary background for my interpretation. Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and It s Discontents, trans. James Strachey. New York Norton, 1961. Schiller, Friedrich. The Aesthetic Education of Man. Oxford Clarendon Press, 1967. Tucker, Robert, ed. The Marx Engels Reader, 2nd ed. New York Norton, 1978. Weber, Max. Essays in Sociology, eds. Gerth and Mills. Oxford Oxford University Press, 1946.