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Download fileWork, anthropology, and human determination in the thought of Schiller, Marx, and Marcuse
thesis
posted on 2022-03-28, 00:59 authored by Karl Nicholas MollThis thesis will trace the evolution of the relationship between concepts of work activity and human nature within a particular strand of German social philosophy, represented by Friedrich Schiller, Karl Marx, and Herbert Marcuse. By analysing the writings of these three key theorists, the thesis explores the value of the concept of work activity, defined as the human being's socially mediated interaction with the natural world, as a social-theoretical resource. In recent years this concept has been underutilised to the detriment of critical social theory, particularly in light of the specific socio-political issues that have emerged in the late capitalist era. Through the analysis of Schiller, Marx, and Marcuse, a case is put forward for a renewal of critical social theory around such a conception of work. The guiding idea is that critical social theory stands in need of a philosophical anthropology which approaches the individual human subject as a unified and complete being, whose freedom may be conceived as activated, as well as circumscribed, by the human being’s activity towards nature.
History
Table of Contents
Introduction -- Part I. Schiller. Chapter 1. Schiller's 'transcendental' anthropology and the concept of play -- Part II. Marx. Chapter 2. Marx's philosophical origins Chapter 3. Anthropology, work and alienation Chapter 4. Capitalism as human determination -- Part III. Marcuse. Chapter 5. Marcuse's 'phenomenological' historical materialism Chapter 6. Work in Reason and revolution and Eros and civilization Chapter 7. Technology, nature and the ' new sensibility' -- Conclusion.Notes
Bibliography: pages 225-238 Theoretical thesis.Awarding Institution
Macquarie UniversityDegree Type
Thesis PhDDegree
PhD, Macquarie University, Faculty of Arts, Department of PhilosophyDepartment, Centre or School
Department of PhilosophyYear of Award
2015Principal Supervisor
Nicholas H. (Nicholas Hugh) SmithAdditional Supervisor 1
Jean-Philippe DerantyRights
Copyright Karl Nicholas Moll 2014. Copyright disclaimer: http://mq.edu.au/library/copyrightLanguage
EnglishExtent
1 online resource (viii, 238 pages)Former Identifiers
mq:53817 http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/1137832Usage metrics
Categories
Keywords
SchillerGerman idealismMarcuse, Herbert, -- 1898-1979 -- PhilosophyWork -- PhilosophyMarx, Karl, -- 1813-1883 -- Philosophycritical theoryMarxismSchiller, FriedrichworkMarcuse, Herbertsocial philosophyMarcuseMarx, KarlWorkhuman subjectivitySchiller, Friedrich, -- 1759-1805 -- Philosophyphilosophical anthropologyMarx