Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud

Hailed as the 'Guru of the New Left' and a leading figure of 1960s counterculture and liberation movements, the philosopher Herbert Marcuse is amongst the most renowned and controversial thinkers of the twentieth century. Eros and Civilization is one of his best-known books and brought him international fame.

Taking his cue from Freud's view that repression of the instincts is a defining characteristic of the human mind, Marcuse fuses Freud's insight with Marx's theories of alienation and oppression. He argues that rather than our instincts turned in on themselves, it is modern capitalism itself that is preventing us from reaching the freedom we can find in a non-repressive society.

A sweeping indictment of modern capitalism and consumerism that remains fresh and insightful, Eros and Civilization is a classic of activist and radical thinking that continues to fire debate and controversy today.

This Routledge Classics edition includes a new Foreword by Douglas Kellner.

Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979) was born and educated in Berlin, before leaving Nazi Germany in 1934 for refuge in the United States. He taught at Columbia University and then held appointments at Harvard, Brandeis and the University of California San Diego. One of the leading radical theorists of the twentieth century he was hailed as the 'Guru of the New Left' and philosophical talisman of the 1960s counterculture movement. His books include Reason and Revolution and One-Dimensional Man, also published in Routledge Classics.