Marcuse y la razón sensual: La estética como posibilidad de renovación sensible para el hombre contemporáneo

Abstract

Confronting both the man and the philosopher with the context of his time will serve as the guiding thread of this research, in order to give concrete shape and strength to the unfolding of the concept of sensual reason or gratifying reason in the “late Marcuse.” This concept is understood as a human faculty capable of transforming and regulating the dark forces of oppression imposed by the overvalued positivism into which reason has fallen since the Enlightenment. In this sense, and bearing in mind the aforementioned observations, it is necessary to formulate the following question to guide the development and justification of the objectives and criteria of this research: Why does Herbert Marcuse conceive of art and aesthetics as possible forces capable of fostering a certain degree of negativity in relation to established reality, and what were the motivations and circumstances that led him to grant art and aesthetics a critical and political character capable of promoting in contemporary man a new sensibility and a sensual or gratifying reason? This question will be addressed based on the theoretical universe that Marcuse developed and shared on this subject over more than five decades.