[FRA:] Marcuse question

[Ralph Dumain]

Adorno shows some awareness of the limits of the critical life in PROBLEMS 
OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY.  But more importantly, he was a product of very 
different circumstances than we are.  And even among us, aside from 
geographical differences, there are generational differences.  Anyone who 
grew up in the '50s or early '60s lives in a different mental universe than 
anyone under 35, say.  Both the popular cultural landscape and the 
intellectual world are radically different.  Critique is not the rarity it 
once was.  There are some very astute bloggers out there, for example, more 
than a few.  The vast majority of humanity seems as uncritical as ever; 
though now in the USA the ignorance involves active denial, as people now, 
unlike in the '50s and '60s, know too much, deny reality though they 
will.  There is a complementarity between popular non-self-aware cynical 
culture and the specialized culture of critique.  Critique can and has been 
routinized and commodified; thus new layers of mystification can 
arise.  But all of this is the product of a system which is politically 
stagnant and moribund.  Thus a sea-change which has its roots in the '70s.

At 11:44 AM 2/20/2006 +0000, matthew piscioneri wrote:
>Simon,
>
>>What does this mean? You've stopped thinking critically about all this 
>>horror?
>
>Yes, as much as I can.
>
>>If you choose to reify 'Critical Theory' into a given set of doctrines or 
>>systems of thought that people feel they must worry about for some 
>>reason, then you may indeed want to lead yourself away.
>
>In some respects i believe that thinking critically about oppression et 
>al. does fulfil this sort of role for some people. As part of critically 
>thinking about myself i realized that my *meditation* on human suffering 
>was satisfying under-productive, even regressive, tendencies in my way of 
>being in the world.
>
>>Critical theory is a response to the world you describe - a means to help 
>>you understand it.
>
>Yes, I agree - critical theory has helped me to understand the world.
>
>>Where 'masochistic fretting' comes in, I don't know. If you give up on 
>>critical thought, you give up.
>
>well, some of us are predisposed to wallowing in the hopelessness of it 
>all for strange masochistic reasons that betray 1000s of years of 
>religious inculcation probably. I'd like to read more of where the F.S 
>theorists turned the blowtorch of critical self-examination on the 
>cultural-psychological background of their participation in the 
>(masochistic) frettings over the human condition.
>
>Now, I'll read the F.S writings till the cows come home...but the critical 
>disposition embedded in their/our stance toward the world says something 
>about us. What is it? i don't think that's giving up at all. Marcuse's 
>essay on _Reality_ (see Ralph's link prior post etc.) links often to the 
>Socratic paradigm of the unexamined life etc as well as the Know Thyself 
>tenet. I think it is always worth asking why *we* engage in the fretting, 
>and also worth considering the possibility that meditating on fear and 
>oppression is counter-productive. As Foucault considered, the overt 
>critical disposition and resistance feeds power. Always the practical 
>challenge appears to be more cunning than the reason's cunning. I am not 
>sure it is possible, that's all ;-).
>
>For I think that many very caring and well-intentioned people put their 
>own journey toward Enlightenment on hold or in the service of the 
>interests of helping others, of helping the world to move beyond the 
>finitude of negative energy and into the realm of happiness and abundance. 
>Yet in their well-intentioned work they come to meditate wholly on the 
>manifestations of negative energy that they hope to ameliorate, or to 
>dissolve. Their 'negative' meditation creates despair. Their despair feeds 
>the circulation of power. In the end, the consciousness that seeks to 
>alleviate the oppressive manifestations of power actually helps instead to 
>maintain it. On this point, I agree strongly with the Buddhist teacher 
>Tarthang Tulku who writes:
>
>"The teachings of Buddhism, called the Dharma, tell us that to understand 
>the hopelessness of samsara [our everyday experience] is to enter the path 
>to nirvana, or liberation from suffering."
>
>"The moment you completely let go of samsara, nirvana is there."
>
>Alleluia
>
>
>best regards,
>
>mattp