Herbert Marcuse Quotes about Choices

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Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves. Free choice among a wide variety of goods and services does not signify freedom if these goods and services sustain social controls over a life of

Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves. Free choice among a wide variety of goods and services does not signify freedom if these goods and services sustain social controls over a life of toil and fear – that is, if they sustain alienation. And the spontaneous reproduction of superimposed needs by the individual does not establish autonomy; it only testifies to the efficacy of the controls.

Herbert Marcuse

Choices, Toil, Doe

Herbert Marcuse (2013). “One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society”, p.10, Routledge

However, if "free choice" means more than a small selection between pre-established necessities, and if the inclinations and impulses used in work are other than those preshaped by a repressive reality principle, then satisfaction in daily work is only a rare privilege.

Herbert Marcuse

Choices, Free Choice, Selection

"Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud".

The criterion for free choice can never be an absolute one, but neither is it entirely relative.

Herbert Marcuse

Choices, Criteria, Absolutes

Herbert Marcuse (2013). “Towards a Critical Theory of Society: Collected Papers of Herbert Marcuse”, p.52, Routledge

The range of choice open to the individual is not the decisive factor in determining the degree of human freedom, but what can be chosen and what is chosen by the individual.

Herbert Marcuse

Choices, Degrees, Individual

Herbert Marcuse (2012). “One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society”, p.7, Beacon Press