Philosophy, Psychoanalysis and Emancipation

Edited by Douglas Kellner and Clayton Pierce, Philosophy, Psychoanalysis and Emancipation is the fifth volume of Herbert Marcuse's collected papers. Containing some of Marcuse’s most important work, this book presents for the first time his unique syntheses of philosophy, psychoanalysis, and critical social theory, directed toward human emancipation and social transformation.
Within philosophy, Marcuse engaged with disparate and often conflicting philosophical perspectives - ranging from Heidegger and phenomenology, to Hegel, Marx, and Freud - to create unique philosophical insights, often overlooked in favor of his theoretical and political interventions with the New Left, the subject of previous volumes. This collection assembles significant, and in some cases unknown texts from the Herbert Marcuse archives in Frankfurt, including:


critiques of positivism and idealism, Dewey’s pragmatism, and the tradition of German philosophy


philosophical essays from the 1930s and 1940s that attempt to reconstruct philosophy on a materialist base


Marcuse’s unique attempts to bring together Freud and philosophy


philosophical reflections on death, human aggression, war, and peace


Marcuse’s later critical philosophical perspectives on science, technology, society, religion, and ecology.

A comprehensive introduction by Douglas Kellner, Tyson Lewis and Clayton Pierce places Marcuse’s work in the context of his engagement with the main currents of twentieth century politics and philosophy. An Afterword by Andrew Feenberg provides a personal memory of Marcuse as scholar, teacher and activist, and summarizes the lasting relevance of his radical thought.

Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979) is an internationally renowned philosopher, social activist and theorist, and member of the Frankfurt School. He has been remembered as one of the most influential social critical theorists inspiring the radical political movements in the 1960s and 1970s. Author of numerous books including One-Dimensional Man, Eros and Civilisation, and Reason and Revolution, Marcuse taught at Columbia, Harvard, Brandeis University and the University of California before his death in 1979.
Douglas Kellner is George F. Kneller Chair in the Philosophy of Education at UCLA. He is author of many books on social theory, politics, history and culture, including Herbert Marcuse and the Crisis of Marxism, Media Culture and Critical Therory, Marxism and Modernity. His Critical Theory and Society: A Reader, co-edited with Stephen Eric Bronner, and recent book Media Spectacle, are both published by Routledge.
Clayton Pierce is a research assistant professor in the department of Education, Culture, & Society at the University of Utah. His books include On Marcuse: Critique, Liberation, and Reschooling in the Radical Pedagogy of Herbert Marcuse (with Douglas Kellner and Tyson Lewis), and Marcuse’s Challenge to Education (with Douglas Kellner, Tyson Lewis and Daniel Cho). His work also appears in journals such as Educational Theory and Policy Futures in Education.

Introduction Douglas Kellner, Tyson Lewis, & Clayton Pierce Part 1: Philosophical Interventions 1. Theses on Scientific Philosophy 2. Schiller’s Humanism 3. Critique of Dewey’s Logic 4. Critique of Dewey’s Theory of Valuation 5. Idealism and Positivism Part 2: Psychoanalytic Interventions 6. Reply to Fromm 7. Theory and Therapy in Freud 8. Obsolescence of Psychoanalysis 9. The Ideology of Death Part 3: From Ontology to Technology 10. From Ontology to Technology Part 4: Philosophical Reflections on Science and Technology 11. World without Logos 12. The Malcontent in the Affluent Society 13. Anthropological Perspectives on Technology 14. Phenomenology and Science 15. Responsibility of Science Part 5: Philosophy in the Contemporary World 16. On the Position of Thinking Today 17. Overcoming Domination 18. Peace as Utopia 19. The Relevance of Reality 20. The Role of Religion in Society Part 6: Conversation with Marcuse in Psychology Today 21. Conversation with Marcuse in Psychology Today Part 7: Late Philosophical/Political Reflections 22. Ecology and Modern Society 23. Children of Prometheus: 25 Theses on Technology and Society 24. KPBS Interview on "Critical Philosophy" Part 8: Afterword 25. Robert Cohen, Philosophical Reflections on Marcuse 26. Andrew Feenberg, Marcuse as Philosopher. Index