| After the Second World War, especially after the1950’s, during the third science andtechnology revolution, the productivity of western capitalist countries has been developedquickly, and great changes have been brought in both social structure and the whole sociallife of western countries. At the same time, the rapid progress of science and technologycreates a new way of life and a new way of control mode, which meet the demand of thosewho may resist, depress the potential creative ability that is also the essence of humanbeings, increase the dependence of individuals on capitalist consumption society, and mostof all, strengthen the consistency between individuals and existing system.Marcuse believed, under the tight control of political, economic and culturalintegration, under the regulation and control of scientific technical rationality, individual’ssensibility was depressed, and he would gradually lose his ability and spirit of criticismand rebellion, and finally became “one-dimensional man†who was used to live in the“one-dimensional societyâ€. In order to let individual’s sensibility get rid of his rationaldepression, in order to overcome the dissimilation consequences of “one-dimensionalsocietyâ€, and in order to realize his social transformation and world reconstruction,Marcuse reformed both Freud’s psychoanalysis theory and Marx’s labor alienation theory,and put forward his own theory of “new sensibility†and new revolution subject whichcame from “instinct revolutionâ€. Marcuse’s “new sensibility†thought is the important content of his new society theory,his “new sensibility†thought is also the important component of his aesthetic theory. His“new sensibility†thought reveals an intuitive aesthetic characteristic, and successfullybinds political function into aesthetics. The aim of this thesis is to systematically exploreMarcuse’s “new sensibility†thought.Besides preface and conclusion, the paper is divided into five additional chapters.In Chapter One, the thesis starts from the generating background of Marcuse’s “newsensibility†thought, gives it a brief introduction, and gradually digs out its developmenttrack. In Chapter Two, the thesis reveals the basic points of “new sensibility†thought fromthree aspects: individual’s sensibility is depressed in the developed industrial society, theworking class is no longer revolution subject, and other classes or groups can’t representrevolution subject either. In Chapter Three, the thesis reveals the theoretical source of his“new sensibility†thought from Marx’s “Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of1844â€and Freud’s psychoanalysis theory. The thesis also reveals three important characteristicsof “new sensibility†thought: experience ability, introspective ability, and esthetics ability.Then this thesis reveals basic content of “new sensibility†thought from four aspects: it is akind of “live†sensibility, imagination is its basic motive force, it is also a kind of“rational†perception, and its logical result is “natural liberationâ€. In Chapter Four, thethesis discusses the relations between Marcuse’s “new sensibility†thought and artisticaesthetics from three aspects: Marcuse’s criticism of orthodox Marxist aesthetic, analysisof Marcuse’s “new sensibility†in his artistic aesthetics, the utility of cultivating "newsensibility" and artistic aesthetics. In Chapter Five, the thesis reveals the structure and defects of Marcuse’s “new sensibility†thought.Marcuse’s “new sensibility†thought is a bold exploration in both breaking throughthe depression and realizing human liberation, but Marcuse confused the concepts ofindividual’s sensibility, eros and human liberation, exaggerated the emotional strength andperceptual potential in revolution. Marcuse believed that the realization of individual’s“new sensibility†depended on art and aesthetics, but he couldn’t explain art and aestheticswould establish what kind of “new sensibilityâ€, he even couldn’t make a substantialanalysis of “new sensibility†either, and it would be his shortcomings. |
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