[FRA:] Marcuse question

[Kenneth MacKendrick]

Most of it. It is an amazing piece of social theory. DofE expresses a
technique of criticism, a theoretical sophistication that is unparalleled.
If you want to encourage people to think and learn (sorry, that's my job
showing though) it is a great book to start with; so is Marcuse's Eros and
Civ. These works make connections that are counter-intuitive, they are
shocking, disconcerting... powerful stuff. That doesn't make it empirically
correct though. I would use DofE to get people to think, and perhaps Samuel
Huntington to provide a counter-example of unthinking. My own predilection
of late is to focus less on ideology and more on doing. I've become quite
interest in ritual performance... I'm of the mind that what bothers us about
people is not their different ideas, it is their different practices. The
vegetarian at the table stands out not because they profess a vegetarian
idealism... but because they eat vegetables.

Ken

-----Original Message-----
From: theory-frankfurt-school-bounces at srcf.ucam.org
[mailto:theory-frankfurt-school-bounces at srcf.ucam.org] On Behalf Of matthew
piscioneri
Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2006 2:28 AM
To: theory-frankfurt-school at srcf.ucam.org
Subject: RE: [FRA:] Marcuse question

Ken,

totalizing critiques are perhaps by their nature unsatisfying. It's 
interesting that the totalizing critique of the enlightenment offered in 
H&A's DoE fails to resist the very instinct that is the object of their 
critique. Also interesting that Habermas's critique of H&A and the 
neo-Nietzscheans also adopts a totalizing response to their 
counter-enlightenment stance. So, in the interests of promoting 
non-totalizing critiques, is there anything in the DoE that you find 
worthwhile?

cheers,

mattP



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