Beyond the Reality Principle: On the Political Role of Imagination in Herbert Marcuse’s Libidinal Economy

Abstract

According to the psychoanalytic tradition, we function in the social world thanks to the reality principle. The article will deal with the role of the imagination as a political force, a force transforming the framework of social reality animated by the historical modification of this principle - the performance principle. Due to the fact that - as Marcuse has shown - reason has become an element of domination, the only emancipatory force capable of opposing the daily routine and repetition is imagination. Therefore, we propose to develop this idea of imagination as a means of liberation from the one-dimensional world and transformation of the social world in the context of the new libidinal economy outlined by G.H. Marcuse in two works: Eros and Civilization and One-Dimensional Man.

Keywords

• performance principle
• reality principle
• imagination
• libidinal economy
• Marcuse