La Phenomenology of Historicity as Theory of Revolution

Between Heidegger and the Young Marcuse

Abstract

This article seeks to substantiate a thesis that was only outlined at the end of Marcuse's Contributions to a Phenomenology of Historical Materialism, published in 1928, namely, that a genuine phenomenology of historicity leads to a theory of revolution. On the other hand, since, for both Marcuse and Heidegger, the separation between theory and praxis is an abstraction, it follows from the above that a phenomenology of historicity is destined to culminate in a revolutionary theory and praxis, that is, an activity that actively transforms present conditions.