Utopian Thinker: Marcuse on Utopia and the Possibilities for Social Change
Keywords:
Capitalism, Critical Theory, Imagination, Social Change, UtopiaAbstract
In a world that denigrates and wards off the power of imagination in effecting social change, Marcuse stands as one of the most enduring intellectuals whose utopian character remains relevant today. He rejects the finality of the existing society and believes in the possibilities for social change. Interestingly, his strong conviction toward imagining alternatives from the existing society earned him a reputation for being a utopian thinker. Along these lines, this paper will then focus on Marcuse as a utopian thinker by exploring the notion of utopia and its relation to possibilities for social change. I argue, following Marcuse, that one’s ability to imagine could further evoke possibilities for social change. Indeed, Marcuse was not only critical of advanced industrial society, but he was also imaginative of what it could still become. Alternatively, one could say that he was critical of the intolerable social conditions precisely because he was imaginative of a better world in the first place.
References
Blanke, Henry T. “Domination and Utopia: Marcuse’s Discourse on Nature, Psyche and Culture.†Capitalism Nature Socialism 5, no. 3 (September 1, 1994): 99–123. https://doi.org/10.1080/10455759409358600.
Bloch, Ernst. The Principle of Hope: Volume 1. Translated by Neville Plaice, Stephen Plaice, and Paul Knight. Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1995.
Cemiloğlu, Nina. “Herbert Marcuse and Ernst Bloch: Critical Dialogues With Freud on Memory and Art.†ETHOS: Dialogues in Philosophy and Social Sciences 9, no. 2 (2016): 17.
Cho, Daniel. “Thanatos and Civilization: Lacan, Marcuse, and the Death Drive.†Policy Futures in Education 4, no. 1 (March 1, 2006): 18–30. https://doi.org/10.2304/pfie.2006.4.1.18.
Cremin, Colin/Ciara. “Eros and Apocalypse: Herbert Marcuse in the Age of Austerity.†Journal of Asia-Pacific Pop Culture 1, no. 2 (2016): 204–26. https://doi.org/10.5325/jasiapacipopcult.1.2.0204.
Davis, Angela. “Marcuse’s Legacies.†In Herbert Marcuse: A Critical Reader. Edited by John Abromeit & W. Mark Cobb. Routledge 2004.
Devitis, Joseph L. “Mannheim and Marcuse: Social Control in Reconstruction and Revolution.†The Southwestern Journal of Philosophy 6, no. 2 (1975): 129–41.
Feenberg, Andrew. “Can Technology Incorporate Values? Marcuse’s Answer to the Question of the Age.†Presented at the Conference on The Legacy of Herbert Marcuse at the University of California, Berkeley, 1998.
______. “Marcuse: Reason, Imagination, and Utopia -.†Radical Philosophy Review 21, no. 2 (2018): 27.
Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents. Translated by James Strachey. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1989.
———. The Origin and Development of Psychoanalysis. USA: Kessinger Publishing, 2004.
______. Two Short Accounts of Psycho-Analysis. Translated and Edited by James Strachey. London: Penguin Books, 1991).
Garland, Christian. “The Freudian Moment: Reflections on Herbert Marcuse.†Illuminations: The Critical Theory Project, last modified February 2, 2021. https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/Illumina%20Folder/garland%5Bmarcuse.htm.
Holland, Nancy J. “Looking Backwards: A Feminist Revisits Herbert Marcuse’s ‘Eros and Civilization.’†Hypatia 26, no. 1 (2011): 65–78.
Kellner, Douglas. “Marcuse and the Quest for Radical Subjectivity.†Social Thought & Research 22, no. 1/2 (1999): 1–24.
Levitas, Ruth. “Educated Hope: Ernst Bloch on Abstract and Concrete Utopia.†Utopian Studies 1, no. 2 (1990): 13–26.
Marcuse, Herbert. An Essay on Liberation. Boston: Beacon Press, 1971.
Marcuse Herbert. Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud. Boston: Beacon Press, 1966.
Marcuse, Herbert. One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society. Boston: Beacon Press, 1964.
Marcuse, Herbert. Technology, War and Fascism : Collected Papers of Herbert Marcuse, Volume 1. Edited by Douglas Kellner. Routledge, 2004. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203208311.
Marcuse, Herbert. The Aesthetic Dimension: Toward a Critique of Marxist Aesthetics. Boston: Beacon Press, 1979.
Moylan, Tom. “The Locus of Hope: Utopia versus Ideology (Le Lieu de l’espoir: Utopie vs Idéologie).†Science Fiction Studies 9, no. 2 (1982): 159–66.
Ocay, Jeffry. “Hegel Reframed: Marcuse on the Dialectic of Social Transformation.†Philosophia: International Journal of Philosophy 16, no. 1 (2015): 15.
Ocay, Jeffry. “Heidegger, Hegel, Marx: Marcuse and the Theory of Historicity.†Kritike: An
Online Journal of Philosophy 4, no. 1 (2008): 46–64.
Ocay, Jeffry. “Technology, Technological Domination, and the Great Refusal: Marcuse’s
Critique of the Advanced Industrial Society.†Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy 4
(November 21, 2010).
Ocay, Jeffry. “The Peasant Movement and Great Refusal in the Philippines: Situating Critical
Theory at the Margins.†Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy 12 (April 1, 2019): 43–
67.
Ocay, Jeffry. “Eroticizing Marx, Revolutionizing Freud: Marcuse’s Psychoanalytic Turn.â€
Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy 3, no. 1 (2009): 14.
Ocay, Jeffry. “Shifting Pattern and Sophistication of the American Colonial Domination in the Philippines: From Colonialism to Technological Domination,†Silliman Journal Vol. 55 No. 1 (January-June 2014):117-152.
Ocay, Jeffry. “Tyranny of the Majority: Hegel and the Paradox of Democracy,†KRITIKE: An Online Journal of Philosophy Vol 14 No. 2 (December 2020): 6-18.
Parekh, Bhikhu. “Utopianism and Manicheism: A Critique of Marcuse’s Theory of Revolution.†In Social Research 39, no. 4 (Winter 1972).
Pippin, Robert B., Andrew Feenberg, and Charles Webel. Marcuse: Critical Theory & the Promise of Utopia. London: Bergin & Garvey, 1988.
Segal, Howard. "Utopianism As Ideology: A Defense." Unpublished paper presented at First Annual Conference on Utopian Studies, Ann Arbor, MI: 1976.
Vieta, Marcelo. “Marcuse’s ‘Transcendent Project’ at 50: Post-Technological Rationality for Our Times.†Radical Philosophy Review 19, no. 1 (2016): 143-172.
Willet, Cynthia. “A Dialectic of Eros and Freedom: Beauvoir and Marcuse.†In Between the Psyche and the Social: Psychoanalytic Social Theory. Edited by Kelly Oliver and Steve Edwin. New York: Rowan and Littlefield Publishers, 2002.
Wolin, Richard. Heidegger’s Children, Hannah Arendt, Karl Lowith, Hans Jonas, and Herbert Marcuse. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2001.
Zilbersheid, Uri. “The Utopia of Herbert Marcuse Part 1.†Critique 36, no. 3 (December 1, 2008): 403–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/03017600802434508.
Bloch, Ernst. The Principle of Hope: Volume 1. Translated by Neville Plaice, Stephen Plaice, and Paul Knight. Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1995.
Cemiloğlu, Nina. “Herbert Marcuse and Ernst Bloch: Critical Dialogues With Freud on Memory and Art.†ETHOS: Dialogues in Philosophy and Social Sciences 9, no. 2 (2016): 17.
Cho, Daniel. “Thanatos and Civilization: Lacan, Marcuse, and the Death Drive.†Policy Futures in Education 4, no. 1 (March 1, 2006): 18–30. https://doi.org/10.2304/pfie.2006.4.1.18.
Cremin, Colin/Ciara. “Eros and Apocalypse: Herbert Marcuse in the Age of Austerity.†Journal of Asia-Pacific Pop Culture 1, no. 2 (2016): 204–26. https://doi.org/10.5325/jasiapacipopcult.1.2.0204.
Davis, Angela. “Marcuse’s Legacies.†In Herbert Marcuse: A Critical Reader. Edited by John Abromeit & W. Mark Cobb. Routledge 2004.
Devitis, Joseph L. “Mannheim and Marcuse: Social Control in Reconstruction and Revolution.†The Southwestern Journal of Philosophy 6, no. 2 (1975): 129–41.
Feenberg, Andrew. “Can Technology Incorporate Values? Marcuse’s Answer to the Question of the Age.†Presented at the Conference on The Legacy of Herbert Marcuse at the University of California, Berkeley, 1998.
______. “Marcuse: Reason, Imagination, and Utopia -.†Radical Philosophy Review 21, no. 2 (2018): 27.
Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents. Translated by James Strachey. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1989.
———. The Origin and Development of Psychoanalysis. USA: Kessinger Publishing, 2004.
______. Two Short Accounts of Psycho-Analysis. Translated and Edited by James Strachey. London: Penguin Books, 1991).
Garland, Christian. “The Freudian Moment: Reflections on Herbert Marcuse.†Illuminations: The Critical Theory Project, last modified February 2, 2021. https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/Illumina%20Folder/garland%5Bmarcuse.htm.
Holland, Nancy J. “Looking Backwards: A Feminist Revisits Herbert Marcuse’s ‘Eros and Civilization.’†Hypatia 26, no. 1 (2011): 65–78.
Kellner, Douglas. “Marcuse and the Quest for Radical Subjectivity.†Social Thought & Research 22, no. 1/2 (1999): 1–24.
Levitas, Ruth. “Educated Hope: Ernst Bloch on Abstract and Concrete Utopia.†Utopian Studies 1, no. 2 (1990): 13–26.
Marcuse, Herbert. An Essay on Liberation. Boston: Beacon Press, 1971.
Marcuse Herbert. Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud. Boston: Beacon Press, 1966.
Marcuse, Herbert. One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society. Boston: Beacon Press, 1964.
Marcuse, Herbert. Technology, War and Fascism : Collected Papers of Herbert Marcuse, Volume 1. Edited by Douglas Kellner. Routledge, 2004. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203208311.
Marcuse, Herbert. The Aesthetic Dimension: Toward a Critique of Marxist Aesthetics. Boston: Beacon Press, 1979.
Moylan, Tom. “The Locus of Hope: Utopia versus Ideology (Le Lieu de l’espoir: Utopie vs Idéologie).†Science Fiction Studies 9, no. 2 (1982): 159–66.
Ocay, Jeffry. “Hegel Reframed: Marcuse on the Dialectic of Social Transformation.†Philosophia: International Journal of Philosophy 16, no. 1 (2015): 15.
Ocay, Jeffry. “Heidegger, Hegel, Marx: Marcuse and the Theory of Historicity.†Kritike: An
Online Journal of Philosophy 4, no. 1 (2008): 46–64.
Ocay, Jeffry. “Technology, Technological Domination, and the Great Refusal: Marcuse’s
Critique of the Advanced Industrial Society.†Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy 4
(November 21, 2010).
Ocay, Jeffry. “The Peasant Movement and Great Refusal in the Philippines: Situating Critical
Theory at the Margins.†Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy 12 (April 1, 2019): 43–
67.
Ocay, Jeffry. “Eroticizing Marx, Revolutionizing Freud: Marcuse’s Psychoanalytic Turn.â€
Kritike: An Online Journal of Philosophy 3, no. 1 (2009): 14.
Ocay, Jeffry. “Shifting Pattern and Sophistication of the American Colonial Domination in the Philippines: From Colonialism to Technological Domination,†Silliman Journal Vol. 55 No. 1 (January-June 2014):117-152.
Ocay, Jeffry. “Tyranny of the Majority: Hegel and the Paradox of Democracy,†KRITIKE: An Online Journal of Philosophy Vol 14 No. 2 (December 2020): 6-18.
Parekh, Bhikhu. “Utopianism and Manicheism: A Critique of Marcuse’s Theory of Revolution.†In Social Research 39, no. 4 (Winter 1972).
Pippin, Robert B., Andrew Feenberg, and Charles Webel. Marcuse: Critical Theory & the Promise of Utopia. London: Bergin & Garvey, 1988.
Segal, Howard. "Utopianism As Ideology: A Defense." Unpublished paper presented at First Annual Conference on Utopian Studies, Ann Arbor, MI: 1976.
Vieta, Marcelo. “Marcuse’s ‘Transcendent Project’ at 50: Post-Technological Rationality for Our Times.†Radical Philosophy Review 19, no. 1 (2016): 143-172.
Willet, Cynthia. “A Dialectic of Eros and Freedom: Beauvoir and Marcuse.†In Between the Psyche and the Social: Psychoanalytic Social Theory. Edited by Kelly Oliver and Steve Edwin. New York: Rowan and Littlefield Publishers, 2002.
Wolin, Richard. Heidegger’s Children, Hannah Arendt, Karl Lowith, Hans Jonas, and Herbert Marcuse. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2001.
Zilbersheid, Uri. “The Utopia of Herbert Marcuse Part 1.†Critique 36, no. 3 (December 1, 2008): 403–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/03017600802434508.
Downloads
Published
2019-06-14
How to Cite
Ladero, A. C. V. (2019). Utopian Thinker: Marcuse on Utopia and the Possibilities for Social Change. SABTON: Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 1(1), 96–111. Retrieved from https://journal.evsu.edu.ph/index.php/sabton-mrj/article/view/311
Issue
Section
Articles
