Counterrevolution and Revolt, fifty years later. Kant, Marx, and the relevance of Herbert Marcuse’s aesthetic dimension

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 elements 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.