Ideological component of martin Heidegger's philosophy in Herbert Marcuse's critique

Abstract

Nowadays the Ukrainian historical and philosophical science is going through a harsh crisis of methodology, caused by distortion of universal coordinates of scientific thinking allegedly providing the condition of the so-called methodological pluralism. Numerous discussions focus on the question about the very scientific nature of history of philosophy as a branch of knowledge. The tendency which appears to prevail in such disputes defines history of philosophy as philosophy in contrast to the opinion that history of philosophy should be rather seen as approximate to social history. This paper aims at revealing relevant methodological instruments of historical reconstruction of philosophical forms in the concreteness of their existence, conditioned by lives of real people with their real ends and drives. Thus we address Herbert Marcuse's critique of Martin Heidegger's philosophy, since once being a Heidegger's assistant he adopted a highly critical position towards his master's philosophy.

Heidegger's Being and Time attracted Marcuse by existential analytics of Being-in-the-world of Dasein and the perspective on historicity of humane condition. In Marcuse's eye Heidegger had come close to the breakthrough towards maintaining of concrete philosophy, providing possibilities of philosophical approach to social realities. By 1932 Marcuse's attempts to reconcile categories of Heideggerian paradigm with strategies of Marxism proved to be a failure. After 1932 Marcuse finds the resources of theoretical enrichment in Marx's Economical and Political Manuscripts of 1844 and distances himself from Heidegger. Nevertheless Heideggerian moments appear to be employed further on in his thinking. Marcuse's critique provides us with an efficient assessment of Heidegger's key concepts as neutralized terms, unable of reaching out to the very reality of human existence, being ideological doubles of sociologicaly valid terminology.