Herbert MarcuseThinkers

Affirmative culture (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a model of bourgeois idealist culture (art, philosophy, religion) whereby abstract notions of equality and happiness and beauty came to stand in for actual equality and happiness and beauty, where actual life is denigrated and indicted for falling short.

Affirmative culture (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the wrongheaded idea that dimensions of the intellectual and spiritual world, such as art, philosophy and religion are to be held to be intrinsically higher and more valuable than interests which contribute directly and more immediately to earning a living.

Choice (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not the decisive factor in determining the degree of human freedom, but what can be chosen and what is chosen by the individual.

The Commodity (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠today, such that people recognize themselves in it... they find their soul in their automobile, hi-fi set, split-level home, kitchen equipment.

Consumerism (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a form of social control.

Contemporary industrial society (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠totalitarian by virtue of the way it has organized its technological base. Totalitarian is not only a terroristic political coordination of society, but also a non-terroristic economic-technical coordination which operates through the manipulation of needs by vested interests.

Culture (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a humanizing process, characterized by the collective effort to preserve human life, pacify the struggle for existence of hold it down to controllable limits, secure a productive organization of society, develop the spiritual capabilities of man and minimize and sublimate aggression, brute force and misery.

Culture (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠affirmative and decidedly positive in that it maintains the ideas of beauty, pleasure and harmony, of virtue, forgiveness and love, truth and justice.

Dialectical theory (n.) has ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠its truth in the transcending of the given facts and in the defining of historical necessities and possibilities.

Disciplinarity (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the idea that once we fix on object by naming we have already circumscribed the space and dimensions of our object of study.

Domination (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠today inseparable from reason itself, a web in which society is fatally entangled.