Abstract

SCHUURMAN, E.. The struggle around the direction of Western culture. Koers (Online) [online]. 2010, vol.75, n.1, pp.99-114. ISSN 2304-8557.

Herbert Marcuse is the most important representative of the cultural revolution of the sixties of the twentieth century. He represents resistance against the scientific-technological ideal of the Enlightenment. His ideal of freedom has, nevertheless, the same roots. Since the Enlightenment Western culture has been characterised by a struggle between the freedom ideal and the scientific-technological control ideal. To lessen the tension we need a cultural transformation. Therefore we need an enlightenment of the Enlightenment. In the old cultural paradigm, nature is seen as lifeless and, given that framework, is exploited by unbridled manipulation. Today we see how the technological-economic development threatens "life" itself, to the point of destroying it. A responsible cultural development summons a representation of culture that depicts earth as a garden tended by humans. The garden has to be developed in the perspective of a city garden, where righteousness, love and therefore protecting life are the main principles. To follow such guidelines implies a spiritual and philosophical struggle in the direction of a transformation of Western culture.

Keywords : cultural paradigmshift; cultural revolution; cultural transformation; Enlightenment technology.

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