Reading the early Marx turned Marcuse from Heideggerian existentialism toward revolutionary theory.
Evidence
It was when he read the `1844 Manuscripts’ of the young Marx, however, that Marx became truly significant to Marcuse for the first time, even more significant than Heidegger or Dilthey. The young Marx, in Marcuse’s eyes, was implementing concrete philosophy and demonstrating that capitalism was not merely an economic or political crisis but a catastrophe for the human essence. What was required was therefore not just economic or political reform, but a total revolution. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 18
Categorization
- QUESTION: What exactly in the 1844 Manuscripts read as ‘concrete philosophy’ compared to Heidegger’s Being and Time?
- XREF: connects to: Being and Time supplied what Marcuse found missing in Marxist theory — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 391; Marcuse fused Heidegger, Freud, and Marx into cultural-revolutionary theory. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2140; Marcuse’s early project merged Heideggerian phenomenology with Marx against Engels’ naturalism — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 274 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Marcuse’s early project merged Heideggerian phenomenology with Marx against Engels’ naturalism
#expands(0.85) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 274 - The 1932 publication of Marx’s Paris Manuscripts pivoted Marcuse from Heidegger to Marx
#qualifies(0.82) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 419 - Horkheimer steered Marcuse from Heideggerian phenomenology toward critical Marxism
#contradicts(0.80) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 283 - Marcuse’s Heideggerian past marked him as needing ideological redemption.
#expands(0.72) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 592