Dialectical tensions: Marcuse, Dunayevskaya and the problems of the age

Damian Gerber; Shannon Brincat

doi:10.1177/0725513616647564

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Dialectical tensions: Marcuse, Dunayevskaya and the problems of the age

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Dialectical tensions: Marcuse, Dunayevskaya and the problems of the age

Damian Gerber and Shannon Brincat

Thesis Eleven, Vol.134(1), pp.107-121

2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0725513616647564

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Abstract

Critical theory

dialectics

Dunayevskaya

humanism

Marcuse

Marxism

There has been a resurgence of interest in the work of Raya Dunayevskaya and Herbert Marcuse, particularly regarding their shared concern with humanism and dialectics. Recent edited collections on Dunayevskaya's correspondence have, however, drawn a sharp contrast between the conceptions of the dialectical method: Dunayesvkaya, who emphasized the need for 'philosophic new beginnings' to offer a new relationship between theory and practice, and Herbert Marcuse who, despite his piercing identification of the one-dimensionality of late capitalism, continued with a problematic basis in (orthodox) Marxist categories. In this review essay, we outline the latest of these two volumes and its distinct contributions before engaging in a critique of Marcuse's restrictions on humanism and dialectics, via a comparison with Dunayevskaya's dialectical approach that was premised on questioning 'the problems of the age' and emphasized the open and negative polarity of dialectical possibilities. © The Author(s) 2016.

Details

Title: Dialectical tensions: Marcuse, Dunayevskaya and the problems of the age
Authors: Damian Gerber (Author) - University of Queensland
Shannon Brincat (Author) - Griffith University
Publication details: Thesis Eleven, Vol.134(1), pp.107-121
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd.
Date published: 2016
DOI: 10.1177/0725513616647564
ISSN: 0725-5136; 0725-5136
Organisation Unit: Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre; Tropical Forests and People Research Centre; School of Social Sciences - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Forest Research Institute; School of Law and Society; Sustainability Research Cluster
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99451393402621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Sociology