The Fission of One-Dimensionality: An Existential Investigation into the Work of Herbert Marcuse and the Potential for a Restorative Future

In this project, I assess the social and individual implications of the work of Herbert Marcuse, from his youth as a philosophy student and critical theorist of the Frankfurt School, to his later assault on advanced industrial society, questioning the potential to blend his societal warnings with the individual freedom within Sartre?s existentialism. I analyze each of Marcuse?s works, considering his crests and valleys of optimism for true liberation of modern society. I conclude both Marcuse and Sartre offer much to learn from, but ultimately fail to provide a consummate realization of modern freedom on their own. I question the extent to which Paul Hawken?s Natural Capitalism and Jim Mackey?s Freedom Movement offer a realistic outlook for a restorative future that naturally entails the liberation of the modern individual from the chains of neoclassical industrial capitalism. My findings show a kinship between Marcuse, Sartre, and a sustainable approach to restructuring our world and future in accord with autonomous individual and societal needs