Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979), born on July 19, German-US political philosopher.
His Marxist critical philosophy and Freudian psychological analyses of Western
society were popular among student leftist radicals during the 1960s.
Foraging: Self-determination, the autonomy of the individual, asserts itself in the right to race his automobile, to handle his power tools, to buy a gun, to communicate to mass audiences his opinion, no matter how ignorant, how aggressive, it may be. ("An Essay on Liberation," ch. 1, 1969.)
Reflecting: The web of domination has become the web of Reason itself, and this society is fatally entangled in it. ("One-Dimensional Man," ch. 5, 1964.)
Nurturing: If mass communications blend together harmoniously, and often unnoticeably, art, politics, religion, and philosophy with commercials, they bring these realms of culture to their common denominator -- the commodity form. ("One-Dimensional Man," ch. 3, 1964.)
Adopting: Not every problem someone has with his girlfriend is necessarily due to the capitalist mode of production. ("The Listener.")
Knuckling down: The people recognize themselves in their commodities;
they find their soul in their automobile, hi-fi set, split-level home, kitchen
equipment. ("One-Dimensional Man," ch. 1, 1964)
[also quoted, under "materialism", at cyber-nation.com. link]
page created by Harold Marcuse, Aug. 1, 2003
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