Eros and Civilization

Hailed as the 'Guru of the New Left' and a leading figure of 1960s counterculture and liberation movements, the philosopher Herbert Marcuse is amongst the most renowned and controversial thinkers of the twentieth century. Eros and Civilization is one of his best-known books and brought him international fame.

Taking his cue from Freud's view that repression of the instincts is a defining characteristic of the human mind, Marcuse fuses Freud's insight with Marx's theories of alienation and oppression. He argues that rather than our instincts turned in on themselves, it is modern capitalism itself that is preventing us from reaching the freedom we can find in a non-repressive society.

A sweeping indictment of modern capitalism and consumerism that remains fresh and insightful, Eros and Civilization is a classic of activist and radical thinking that continues to fire debate and controversy today.

This Routledge Classics edition includes a new Foreword by Douglas Kellner.

Table of Contents

Foreword to the Routledge Classics Edition Douglas Kellner

Preface

Introduction

Part 1: Under the Rule of the Reality Principle

1. The Hidden Trend in Psychoanalysis

2. The Origin of the Repressed Individual (Ontogenesis)

3. The Origin of Repressive Civilization (Phylogenesis)

4. The Dialectic of Civilization

5. Philosophical Interlude

Part 2: Beyond the Reality Principle

6. The Historical Limits of the Established Reality Principle

7. Phantasy and Utopia

8. The Images of Orpheus and Narcissus

9. The Aesthetic Dimension

10. The Transformation of Sexuality into Eros

11. Eros and Thanatos

Epilogue: Critique of Neo-Freudian Revisionism.

Index