A Study Of Marcuse’s Theory Of Alienation Of Science And Technology ——From The Perspective Of Marxism

The Frankfurt School is regarded as one of the major schools of Western Marxist thought,and its research covers a wide range of fields,including politics,economics,and culture.The German-American philosopher Herbert Marcuse is one of the key members of this school,and some of his books and writings have been called "the most sophisticated analysis of developed capitalist society to date".At the same time,his ideas on alienation have had an impact on the development of Western society.Nowadays,China has started a new journey of building a comprehensive socialist modernization country,and the important influence of science and technology on social development is still inevitable,so it is still relevant to re-examine Marcuse’s theory of scientific and technological alienation.Marcuse’s idea of alienation was produced and gained a certain degree of acceptance because it was inseparably linked to the context of his time and his life experiences.He lived in an era of accelerated economic development through technology;intensified political confrontation;increased cultural crisis;and increased technological domination,to the extent that technical reason became the ruling force in society.Marcuse witnessed both the great enrichment and rise in the standard of living brought about by the rapid development of technology and the alienation of man himself and the continuing increase in the dangers of weaponry for mankind.He drew on Marx’s theory of the alienation of labour,Freud’s psychoanalysis and Lukacs’s theory of objectification,and through integration and innovation developed his famous theories of the ’one-way man’ and the ’liberation of love and desire’.Marcuse analysed the phenomenon of technological alienation in three areas:economy,politics and culture,and revealed that the root cause of technological alienation lies in the fact that technology performs an ideological function,the irrationality of the capitalist system and the departure of technological rationality from value rationality.Marcuse argues that human development in the world should be studied from many perspectives,and that the political,economic and cultural spheres are all factors that have a significant impact on human development.It is in these areas,therefore,that he seeks a reasonable solution to his theory of alienation,and he critiques"one-way man","one-way society" and "one-way thought".He criticised"one-way man","one-way society" and "one-way thought" in order to find a way out for the liberation of mankind.With the continuous development of today’s society in all directions,especially the rapid progress of science and technology,human beings are gradually confused,obscured and even controlled by the phenomenon of scientific and technological alienation,which makes them vulnerable to losing their critical faculties.Marcuse’s theory of scientific and technological alienation has a certain warning function.As China is at a critical period in the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics,an in-depth study of Marcuse’s theory of scientific and technological alienation can serve as a reference for promoting the modernisation of China.