Herbert Marcuse in `Eros and Civilization` is heavily concerned with the alienation and the enslavement of the human individual. Provide a detailed explanation-grounded by examples in the text-of alienation. How is it socailly produced, and how is it expe

Eros and Civilization : The Alienation and

Enslavement of the Human Individual (Based on Marcusian Philosophy

Thesis Statement : The current world based on the performance principle is an irreversible step towards the further alienation of the individual in the rubric of labor , law , and other institutional dictums

On the Repression of Libidinal Energy

Marcuse (1955 ) outlined a world governed by the performance principle where organized labor restraints the individual to express his /her libidinal instincts . This repression of libido leads necessarily to works of progress , that is , the foundation of civilization . Civilization

br then is an expression of the repression of the eros of the individual having indulged himself to more productive ends . It is necessary for this libido to be repressed , for failing so would lead to destructive ends . Humanity will falter into an age of cultural darkness , where art science , and thinking in general would be and chaos these instances would therefore castigate humanity into dangerous pleasures with great pain , pain that puts the individual into a world of fantasy and dreams . As such , the repression of this so-called libido (Freudian concept ) is a necessary step towards the attainment of organization , goal-setting (for the individual and the group to which he /she belongs , and societal stability . theless , the repression leads to the establishment of law and to an environment conducive to the works of progress . These works of progress then becomes the ground base for the development of a cultural identity to which people may identify themselves , and to which they may find satisfaction (group satisfaction , to compensate the lost pleasures of the libidinal energy

On Alienation

Because the individual is geared towards the attainment of cultural dictums , his labor shrouds his true nature , prevents him from discovering the general benefits of his libido . It theless makes him more desiring and ambitious , which in the end proves fatal to his personality . His labor , the contradiction of libido , is suspended in the air , ready to grab the slightest faint of opportunity the nose for profit and surplus results then . The individual is alienated from himself , the self where libido is expressed (as in accord with the Freudian principles . He becomes acquainted with the rubrics of success and opportunistic uplifting . He does not realize that the labor he exerted is contributing to the shrouding of his personality . In the end he becomes overanxious of his actions , not knowing anymore the traits that made him a human species a human species that does not only contain traits that contribute for its development , but the energy that drives it . The libidinal energy that in his childhood (Oedipus complex was his primary tool for self- gratification is now in the state of decay . The anxiety faced by man when failure comes in is the sign of success for libidinal repression . It is the state where the individual realizes that labor or work exerted for long periods of time had presented nothing but obscurity to individuality and false self-reliance

On Society and Freedom

The...