Counterrevolution and Revolt, fifty Years later. Kant, Marx, and the Relevance of Herbert Marcuse’s aesthetic Dimension

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ef.352420

Keywords:

Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, Herbert Marcuse, aesthetics, political ecology, social philosophy, critical theory

Abstract

Recently, Critical Theory has been revisited due to the relevance of its critique of contemporary forms of alienation. This critique allows the unveiling of structural ele- ments of contemporary ways of life, offering an accurate analysis of the material and subjective causes of the current environmental crisis. An example of this contribution is Herbert Marcuse’s book Counterrevolution and Revolt, published in 1972. This article addresses the relationship between aesthetics and political ecology established in the main theses of Marcuse’s book. The objective is to present how Marcuse employs the German philosophical tradition, more specifically elements of Kant’s Critique of the Power of Judgment and Marx’s Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, to constitute a conceptual project of emancipation based on what he calls the aesthetic dimension. The article concludes by claiming that Marcuse’s critics and formulation entail a double requirement in which the field of Aesthetics has a central role.

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Author Biography

Juliano Bonamigo Ferreira de Souza, Université catholique de Louvain

is a Doctoral candidate at the Centre de Philosophie du Droit (CPDR) and the Institut Supérieur de Philosophie (ISP), at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain). His research focuses on social philosophy and political ecology, as well as on interpreting Herbert Marcuse’s work in the light of post- Kantian philosophy and environmental issues. He also contributes to the editorial project of new translations of Marcuse’s work into Portuguese.

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Published

2023-06-02

How to Cite

Ferreira de Souza, J. B. (2023). Counterrevolution and Revolt, fifty Years later. Kant, Marx, and the Relevance of Herbert Marcuse’s aesthetic Dimension. Estudios De Filosofía, (68), 109–137. https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ef.352420