One of the prominent representatives of the famous school in Frankfurt, which appeared in 1930 at the Institute for Social Research, was Marcuse Herbert. He made a critical assessment of modern society and published many works related to the study of the views of Hegel and Marx, with an attempt to understand the mind, analyze it, combine it with politics and revolutionary movements.
Philosophus Brief
Herbert was born in 1898 in Berlin. He lived 81 years and died on July 29 in 1979, 10 days after his birthday, also in Germany. Its main directions were neo-Marxism, neo-Freudianism and neo-Hegelianism. One of the main works was considered "One-Dimensional Man" as a continuation of the teachings of the School. This work was the largest in the 60s of the last century.
The people who had the greatest influence on the fate and choice of Herbert's path were Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, V.I. Lenin, Edmund Husserl and others.
Marcus Herbert Biography
The future philosopher was born in a Jewish family. When the First World War was going on, he was drafted into the army, where after a few years he became a member of the Soldiers Council, which took part in various uprisings and revolutions. But after some time he left this society because he did not agree with his views, and went to get a doctorate in literature, which he was awarded in 1922.
Already in these years he began to think about philosophy, studied the works of Freud and Marx, which had a great influence on him, and at the same time began to work at the Institute for Social Research.
When the Nazis came to power in the 1930s, many representatives of the Frankfurt School decided to emigrate to the United States. Thus, they brought to America European traditions in education. Later, their students created the “New School of Social Sciences”, which exists today.
After World War II, Marcuse returned to Germany, where he worked as an expert on denazification. In addition, it was very important for him to understand whether a person could become a Nazi for some reason and what he was in charge of. He was greatly affected by this topic, because many representatives of the German intelligentsia adopted Nazism.
School
The Frankfurt school did not appear from scratch, but arose on the basis of the institute, which was engaged in social research. The main object of study was society, and its representatives believed that it had turned into a totalitarian system. The revolution in such a society played a decisive role, and the intelligentsia took not the last place in it. Their false consciousness was formed at the expense of the media and culture, which imposed its opinion.
The main ideas of Marcuse Herbert , which influenced various ideological options, were as follows:
- Talk about capitalism and socialism as a kind of industrial society.
- Denial of any revolution.
- Denial of regimes such as totalitarianism and the influence of an authoritarian personality.
Philosophical views
Throughout his life, Herbert several times changed his point of view on different spheres. At the initial stage, when he received a degree in literature, he adhered to the views of Karl Marx. But, however, he was not happy with the orthodox doctrine, where such a science as philosophy was underestimated.
Marcuse Herbert decided to give the historical materialism of Marx a philosophical aspect, turning to the ideas of M. Heidegger. However, later, when the philosopher got acquainted with the previously unpublished works of the Philosophical and Economic Manuscripts, there was a gap in the views of Marx and Heidegger, and Herbert abandoned these ideas. A new period of creativity has come.
The writer and philosopher stopped considering economic categories, and the introduction and study of Western civilization with the subordination of nature came to the fore. He used categorical-conceptual series, investigated the causes of the conflict between the nature of man and his social form, and believed that a person would always fight with his essence and the civilization in which he lives.
Herbert considered even advances in science to be a desire to satisfy his “false” material needs. If you get rid of everything unnecessary, then the person will become self-sufficient and will not depend on anyone.
At the end of his life, Marcuse tried to develop new models of behavior to study the deepest sources of mankind and its existence, and even here the influence of the philosopher Heidegger was traced.
The main work of the philosopher
One of the main works of Marcuse Herbert was a continuation of the critical theory that was developed at the Frankfurt school. The book first appeared on the shelves in 1964 in America, and three years later it was released in Germany.
Despite the great influence on the philosopher by the works of Marx, he still did not believe that the working class played a decisive role in the formation of society, because consumption affected people for the worse. A person is one-dimensional, it can be easily manipulated, just exerted influence through the media.
In brief, the philosophical views of Marcuse Herbert can be stated in several theses:
- Why is man one-dimensional? Because all people are the same and obey the same laws and desires.
- How free is society? Visually, it is independent, but at the same time it is controlled, it affects values, culture and views, each person is essentially monitored.
- And how free is man? His needs are imposed from the outside, they are all false and make him a slave to these same needs.
- Can a person change? Maybe if he refuses all imposed desires, ceases to exploit nature and will be in harmony with it, he will turn to spiritual needs.
Proceedings
To understand Herbert's philosophy, one should study his works, where he not only expresses his opinion, but also thinks about how to help humanity and society, in which direction it is better to move and where to start. In addition to the book One-Dimensional Man, there were others, such as Reason and Revolution, where the author studies Hegel, his social and political sphere. He defends it, believing that philosophy was based on German idealistic culture, and not as a prerequisite for fascism.
Other works of the author:
- "Eros and civilization."
- "Soviet Marxism: A Critical Analysis."
- “Negations. Essays on Critical Theory. ”
- "Psychoanalysis and politics."
- "Counter-revolution and rebellion."
Marcuse Herbert: Key Ideas
The main idea, which can be distinguished from many works of the philosopher, his interviews and various notes, comes down to the fact that society has reached the dead end of totalitarianism. What a person has achieved in the world suppresses his individuality and freedom, and all people become the same. They have the same desires and needs, which means that it is very easy to control and dominate them, from where the “one-dimensional person” appeared. This was the “critical theory” and the main view of the world.