Eros and Revolution

In Eros and Revolution, Javier Sethness Castro presents a comprehensive intellectual and political biography of the world-renowned critical theorist Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979). Investigating the origins and development of Marcuse's dialectical approach vis-à-vis Hegel, Marx, Fourier, Heidegger, and Freud as well as the central figures of the Frankfurt School—Horkheimer, Adorno, Neumann, Fromm, and Benjamin—Sethness Castro chronicles the radical philosopher's lifelong activism in favor of anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, and anti-authoritarianism together with Marcuse's defiant revindication of global libertarian-socialist revolution as the precondition for the realization of reason, freedom, and human happiness. Beyond examining Marcuse's revolutionary life and contributions, moreover, the author contemplates the philosopher's relevance to contemporary struggle, especially with regard to ecology, feminism, anarchism, and the general cause of worldwide social transformation.

Javier Sethness Castro, MSc. (2008), London School of Economics, is the author of Imperiled Life: Revolution against Climate Catastrophe (Institute for Anarchist Studies/AK Press, 2012) and For a Free Nature: Critical Theory, Social Ecology, and Post-Developmentalism (Lambert Academic Press, 2013). He contributed to Multidimensional Marcuse: Radical Thought/Action Today (Palgrave-MacMillan, forthcoming) and has participated in several International Herbert Marcuse Society conferences.

"The scholarly care and political mindfulness of Javier Sethness Castro’s study may stimulate a return to Marcuse. The reward that awaits is more than insight into Marcuse’s ideas and humanity: it may help us become more fully acquainted with our own historical-political context and our own emancipatory potential today." - Charles Reitz, in: Radical Philosophy Review 24/1 (2021)