"Introduction to Marcuse's "On the Problem of the Dialectic

Since a comprehensive exposition of the dialectic in Marcuse's social theory cannot be undertaken here—in fact, such a project would require a dialectical analysis of the development of Marcuse's work in relation to changing socio-historical conditions—the following will focus on a central problem confronting critical theory: the coordination of all modes of discourse with the dynamic of advanced industrial society which has eliminated all forms of negation of the prevailing social order. Their ideological conformity reduces all cultural dimensions to expressions of a totally reified universe of discourse. Alienation and objectification do not merely “overlap phenomenologically” as they had during the premonopolistic stages of capitalism, but an apparent identity has been forged between them, its temporary status notwithstanding

Aesthetics · Alienation · Capitalism · Conformity · Critical theory · Dialectic · Epistemology · Identity (music · Ideology · Linguistics · Negation · Objectification · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Hannah Arendt's Political Philosophy · Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology

• Questions of Method

  Open Access•Paul Paolucci, Paul B Paolucci•Critical Sociology•2000

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