An Explorative Study Of Herbert Marcuse’s Thoughts On Aesthetic Redemption Of Technology

Herbert Marcuse (1879-1979) is one of important builders of Social Critical Theory and representative figures of early Frankfurt School. Studies on Herbert Marcuse home and abroad are heating up once again in the context of Modernity, with gradually deep-going research on his thoughts of technology. From the perspective of Philosophy of Technology, the dissertation focuses on Marcuse’s thoughts on aesthetic redemption of technology (AROT), aiming for interpreting his thoughts of constructive technology besides technological rationality critique and enriching the technology studies of Western Marxist. Therefore, the dissertation sequentially explains the starting point, generating background, logical extension and academic evaluation of his thoughts on AROT.Firstly, Marcuse’s critical theory mainly concerns for totality of advanced industrial societies, and mostly features the combination of technological rationality critique and ideological critique. However, his technological rationality determinism way of thinking leads to a vicious circle dilemma in theory. Secondly, the dissertation analyses the generating background of thoughts on AROT from the origin of aesthetic modernity context, post-technological rationality and aesthetic reduction approach. Thirdly, confronting with the sociopathy of technological rationality domination in advanced industrial societies, Marcuse presents an aesthetic redemption solution, which targets technology, external and internal nature in an aesthetic reduction approach. Finally, the dissertation discusses the limitation and value of Marcuse’s thoughts on AROT, and indicates his academic spreading path, i.e. the development in criticism while one turn in constructivism.