ABSTRACT
The scope of H. Marcuse's philosophy has generally been considered to be closer to the realm of political practice than is the case for the other thinkers of the Frankfurt School. This chapter focuses on Marcuse's idea of a dialectic of appearance and essence and its connection to the mystified repressive social totality. To philosophize in terms of abstraction, in terms of the dialectic between appearance and essence, means to view society in non-identity terms. Marcuse's suggestion that alienated labour is the essence of the capitalist system at the centre of the analysis. It attempts to connect this argument with the other key terms of Marcuse's critical theory, such as materialism and negativity. The chapter analyses the practical implications of Marcuse's concepts of determinate negation and 'absolute refusal' for a radical democratic theory. For Marcuse, totality is false because is repressive, totalitarian and one-dimensional.
