ABSTRACT
The rationality guiding the activities of the men and women in the co-operative society is never simply the cold instrumental rationality implied by economic theory or the physical sciences. The co-operative society is guided by ethical ends. These ends are fully described in the overriding concern for the full development and best possible satisfaction of all the individuals ocnstituting that society. The importance of rationality is far less in evidence in One Dimensional Man. The vision that Marcuse evokes is that of an anarchy even more catastrophic than the one invoked by Hobbes. In his insistence upon complete release of the unconscious and upon the integral freedom echoing in works of art, as opposed to any variation upon the prevailing “reality principle”. Nevertheless, it should be noted that Marcuse from the outset describes contemporary American society as an “irrational society”.
