H. Marcuse
Contemporary Political Philosophy
February 19, 2004
Herbert Marcuse Herbert Marcuse was known as one of the best known philosophers and writers of the 1960s. He was born in Berlin but would leave in 1933 for the United States; he died in 1979 during a visit to Germany. In 1964, Marcuse would publish his most influential and to many his most important book, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society. In this book, Marcuse explains the concept of one dimensional society and how it is a form of social oppression that uses production and consumerism as tools to abolish critical thought and opposing behavior. He argues that our society is distorted due to the misuse of our resources in an effort to obtain false needs while commonly ignoring our true basic needs as human beings. This would gradually make the difference between true and false needs less and less apparent to society. Marcuse argues that there are only few vital basic human needs that every society must meet to function properly. Those needs being: nourishment, clothing, housing, and an attainable level of culture. But because organic food is more expensive, clothing has become more about trends instead of purpose, housing is no longer a given, and the culture we live in has become so infatuated with the glamorous and expensive style of living, we lose are sights as to what is truly important and what is not. If those basic human needs (nourishment, clothing, housing, and level of culture) were openly and equally available to everyone is society, there would be less injustice and oppression in the world. But more importantly, individuals would be free from themselves and abandon their pursuit of false happiness. This would make available more time for leisure and greater appreciation of life’s natural beauties. Marcuse explains that societies create particular ways and guidelines to meet the vital human needs then attempts to convince the citizen that its chosen ways
February 19, 2004
Herbert Marcuse Herbert Marcuse was known as one of the best known philosophers and writers of the 1960s. He was born in Berlin but would leave in 1933 for the United States; he died in 1979 during a visit to Germany. In 1964, Marcuse would publish his most influential and to many his most important book, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society. In this book, Marcuse explains the concept of one dimensional society and how it is a form of social oppression that uses production and consumerism as tools to abolish critical thought and opposing behavior. He argues that our society is distorted due to the misuse of our resources in an effort to obtain false needs while commonly ignoring our true basic needs as human beings. This would gradually make the difference between true and false needs less and less apparent to society. Marcuse argues that there are only few vital basic human needs that every society must meet to function properly. Those needs being: nourishment, clothing, housing, and an attainable level of culture. But because organic food is more expensive, clothing has become more about trends instead of purpose, housing is no longer a given, and the culture we live in has become so infatuated with the glamorous and expensive style of living, we lose are sights as to what is truly important and what is not. If those basic human needs (nourishment, clothing, housing, and level of culture) were openly and equally available to everyone is society, there would be less injustice and oppression in the world. But more importantly, individuals would be free from themselves and abandon their pursuit of false happiness. This would make available more time for leisure and greater appreciation of life’s natural beauties. Marcuse explains that societies create particular ways and guidelines to meet the vital human needs then attempts to convince the citizen that its chosen ways
Cited: 1. Marcuse, Herbert One Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society Beacon Press, 1964. 2. Roszak, Theodore Person/Planet: The Creative Disintegration of Industrial Society 1978.