A review by magpie_goose
Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry Into Freud by Herbert Marcuse

3.0

an insightful analysis of Freudian psychology intended to find an answer to the problems of repressive social and economic forces ('Reality' principle). difficult to decipher the arguments at times through the necessarily pedantic academic language. in the final analysis Marcuse finds a way forward through the possibility of creative engagement with work, relying on the model of the work of the artist. however this way forward does not work on account of 'creativity' itself (creative choices) being tightly framed in the workplace, and thus giving at best an illusion of freedom; and secondly, because this illusory freedom functions to seduce workers into sacrifice of life outside of work (ie. emergence of workaholic) with little to no commensurate rewards financial or otherwise. a functional alternative to the (reductionist, pseudo-historical) dichotomy of pleasure versus productivity, cannot be wrangled from within the oedipal mythology as interpreted by Freud for the industrial era.