馬爾庫塞是“3M（馬剋思、毛澤東和馬爾庫塞）”之一，國際知名哲學傢和政治思想傢、法蘭剋福學派和弗洛伊德主義的馬剋思主義的重要代錶人物，曾受業於哲學傢鬍塞爾和海德格爾。為取得大學哲學係教書的資格，他在存在主義哲學傢海德格爾的指導下，撰寫瞭《黑格爾的本體論與曆史性理論的基礎》一文，發錶於1931年。期間，他還寫瞭一些初步奠定其後來思想基礎的文章。馬爾庫塞一生著作頗豐，從1922年他作為博士學位提交的第一篇論文《論德國藝術小說》起，到1979年在逝世前齣版的《無産階級的物化》，共齣版論著、論文、論集、談話錄近百種之多。影響較大的有：《曆史唯物論的現象學導引》、《辯證法的課題》、《黑格爾本體論與曆史性理論的基礎》、《理性與革命》、《愛欲與文明》、《單嚮度的人》、《論解放》、《審美之維》。

Acclaimed throughout the world as a philosopher of liberation and revolution, Herbert Marcuse is one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century. His penetrating critiques of the ways modern technology produces forms of society and culture with oppressive modes of social control indicate his enduring significance in the contemporary moment. This collection of unpublished or uncollected essays, unfinished manuscripts, and correspondence between 1942 and 1951, provides Marcuse's exemplary attempts to link theory with practice, and develops ideas that can be used to grasp and transform existing social reality.

These papers vividly chronicle Marcuse's increasing, yet reluctant estrangement from Max Horkeimer, director of the Institute for Social Research and his years as an analyst with various U.S. government agencies. Marcuse's later attempts to link theory and practice in the 1960s and 1970s in regard to the New Left, National Liberation Movements and other new social movements were grounded in his work from the 1940s. As the 1940s witnessed the rise to global prominence of German fascism and its defeat in World War Two, and the emergence of the Cold War, Marcuse strived to preserve the radical vision of his youth during a difficult historical period while many turned toward more conservative positions.

Precisely the sort of broad theoretical and political theorizing that Marcuse undertook througout his life is needed today to analyze the momentous changes that we are currently undergoing.

Excerpt: Personal history is interwoven with intellectual and political events in these papers. We debated whether letters belonged here: whether some should be published at all. My father had a deep sense of personal privacy, both as a character trait and as a political expression of resistance to the commodification of the private. Yet the letters contain substantive discussions also. We could have edited out, expurgated some of the material. While not publishing every letter my father wrote, our selection was based on interest, and every letter that is included is included in full. That decision was in part painful for me personally. The juxtaposition of the letters to Horkeimer and the exchange with Heidegger highlights the point. --from the Foreword by Peter Marcuse</P>