Herbert Marcuse

[Palmares]

I was just wondering why, for the sake of an assignment, why Marcuse's work is widely described as "Utopian"? Perhaps there is some reference to the "one dimensional man" here?

:)

[TC]

Because your teacher/professor doesn't understand Marcuse?

[Monty Cantsin]

Marcuse was critical of what he called “operationalism” (see page 24 of one dimensional man) which he saw as a trend in modern science and analytical philosophy that upheld Ludwig Wittgenstein notion “whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.”. The reduction of all thought to a one dimensional affirmation of ‘what is real is rational what is rational is real’ type system. he was utopian because he felt that a historical imagination was paramount to attaining a better society not of the one dimensional totalitarian type though he highlighted ‘utopian’ because he couldn’t bridge the gap of what we have now to then. In chapter 7 he explores the idea of one dimentional philosophy and the triumph of positive thinking.