|
 MARCUSE, Herbert (1898-1979), German-American philosopher,
born in Berlin, and educated at the universities of Berlin and Freiburg. He was associated with the Institute of Social Research, Frankfurt, until 1933, when the National Socialist party came into power and the
school was closed. He immigrated to the U.S., joining the Institute of Social Research, Columbia University, in 1934. In the 1940s he was employed by various intelligence agencies of the federal government.
After 1950 he taught successively at Columbia, Harvard, and Brandeis universities and at the University of California, San Diego. Marcuse was known as a leading theoretician of the radical left and New Left and as
an incisive critic of the established order. His influence with students was evident during the university rebellions in Europe and the U.S. in the late 1960s. Marcuse
held that some social ills can be overcome only if the democratic process is discarded. He maintained that the most effective challenge to the established order will come from students
andminority groups and not from workers, who, he claims, are committed to the status quo. His social philosophy is set forth in Eros and Civilization (1955) and One-Dimensional Man (1964). |
