Marcuse's Vision of How Artistic Redemption Is Possible in A Repressive Civilization

Abstract

Marcuse inherited Freud's view of civilization, which, according to Marcuse, contradicts man's instinctive needs, since its progress often requires restraint and delayed gratification of these instincts. However, how can art, as a product of civilization, represent man's primitive instincts and become a breakthrough point for his liberation? Marcuse points out that the desire for free love does not reject the enduring social relations of civilization, but rather rejects the organization of super-repressive social relations, and therefore there must be a non-repressive civilization. Why, then, is it possible for a non-repressive civilization to emerge from within a repressive civilization? This paper delves into Marcuse's theoretical framework, and by clarifying the logical starting point and possibility of artistic redemption, it aims to expose how a civilization that represses instincts can produce art that represents human instincts, and then explore how the road to artistic redemption is possible.