Heidegger and Marcuse : The Catastrophe and Redemption of History

This short book contrasts the philosophies of technology of Heidegger and Marcuse, one of Heidegger's star pupils, and relates their work to contemporary technology studies. Feenberg sets out the historical and theoretical background of the debate, then discusses each philosopher's theory in turn, and ends with an important analysis of the implications for contemporary technology studies. Although Heidegger's work in the philosophy of technology is widely discussed and has already been addressed in a handful of books, Marcuse's work has been largely overlooked. This book will be the first to critically engage Marcuse as a philosopher of technology, and as such is sure to make an important impact on the field. First published in 2005. Herbert Marcuse was Martin Heidegger's most famous student. He claimed to have left existentialism behind in 1933 when Heidegger was declared first Nazi rector of Freiburg University and Marcuse fled into exile.The contentious relations between these two thinkers reflected the split in twentieth-century continental philosophy between exist- entialism and Marxism. But Andrew Feenberg's careful study of Heidegger's early lectures, as well as of previously unpublished work by Marcuse, suggests that the famous student remained closer than he cared to admit to the even more famous teacher. Heidegger and Marcuse examines for the first time Marcuse's remarkable attemptsin his early and late work to bridge the gap between existentialism and Marxism in a radical critical theory. This short book contrasts the philosophies of technology of Heidegger and Marcus, and relates their work to contemporary technology studies. Feenberg sets out the historical and theoretical background of the debate, then discusses each philosopher's theory in turn.;Ch. 1. Techné : prologue with Plato and Aristotle -- ch. 2. The question concerning Techné : Heidegger's Aristotle -- ch. 3. The dialectic of life : Marcuse's Hegel -- ch. 4. Interlude with Lukács : totality and revolution -- ch. 5. Aesthetic redemption -- ch. 6. The question concerning nature -- ch. 7. Conclusion : the path to authenticity. Andrew Feenberg. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [145]-150) And Index.