Herbert Marcuse Quotes

A collection of quotes by Herbert Marcuse.

Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979) was a German philosopher and sociologist, known for his critical theory and influential work in the Frankfurt School of thought. Marcuse's ideas focused on the intersections between capitalism, consumer society, and individual freedom, asserting that true liberation could only be achieved through the radical transformation of society. His works, such as "One-Dimensional Man" and "Eros and Civilization," challenged the prevailing social order and inspired generations of activists and intellectuals. Marcuse's critical perspective on the capitalist system left a lasting impact on contemporary philosophy and political theory.

The music of the soul is also the music of salesmanship. Exc

The music of the soul is also the music of salesmanship. Exchange value, not truth value counts. On it centers the rationality of the status quo, and all alien rationality is bent to It.

Herbert Marcuse

The ontological concept of truth is in the centre of a logic

The ontological concept of truth is in the centre of a logic which may serve as a model of pre- technological rationality. It is the rationality of a two-dimensional universe of discourse which, contrasts with the of thought and behavior that develop in the execution of the technological project.

Herbert Marcuse

Truth Contrast Discourse

Precisely because Galilean science is, in the formation of i

Precisely because Galilean science is, in the formation of its concepts, the technic of a specific Lebenswelt, it does not and cannot transcend this Lebenswelt. It remains essentially within the basic experiential framework and within the universe of ends set by this reality.

Herbert Marcuse

This language controls by reducing the linguistic forms and

This language controls by reducing the linguistic forms and symbols of reflection, abstraction, development, contradiction; by substituting images for concepts. It denies or absorbs the transcendent vocabulary; it does not search for but establishes and imposes truth and falsehood.

Herbert Marcuse

Truth Language Symbols

If man has learned to see and know what really is, he will a

If man has learned to see and know what really is, he will act in accordance with truth, Epistemology is in itself ethics, and ethics is epistemology.

Herbert Marcuse

Obscenity is a moral concept in the verbal arsenal of the es

Obscenity is a moral concept in the verbal arsenal of the establishment, which abuses the term by applying it, not to expressions of its own morality but to those of another.

Herbert Marcuse

Profanity Vulgarity

If the worker and his boss enjoy the same television program

If the worker and his boss enjoy the same television program and visit the same resort places, if the typist is as attractively made up as the daughter of her employer, if the Negro owns a Cadillac, if they all read the same newspaper, then this assimilation indicates not the disappearance of classes, but the extent to which the needs and satisfactions that serve the preservation of the Establishment are shared by the underlying population.

Herbert Marcuse

Freedom of enterprise was from the beginning not altogether

Freedom of enterprise was from the beginning not altogether a blessing. As the liberty to work or to starve, it spelled toil, insecurity, and fear for the vast majority of the population. If the individual were no longer compelled to prove himself on the market, as a free economic subject, the disappearance of this freedom would be one of the greatest achievements of civilization.

Herbert Marcuse

The people recognize themselves in their commodities they fi

The people recognize themselves in their commodities they find their soul in their automobile, hi-fi set, split-level home, kitchen equipment.

Herbert Marcuse

If mass communications blend together harmoniously, and ofte

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. The music of the soul is also the music of salesmanship. Exchange value, not truth value, counts.

Herbert Marcuse

Self-determination, the autonomy of the individual, asserts

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.

Herbert Marcuse

The web of domination has become the web of Reason itself, a

The web of domination has become the web of Reason itself, and this society is fatally entangled in it.

Herbert Marcuse