Marcuse and the Rise of the New Left — with Andrew Feenberg

Below the Radar explores critical theory, anti-authoritarianism, the philosophy of technology, and the storied academic career of SFU School of Communication professor Andrew Feenberg, who studied under influential theorists, including renowned German-American philosopher Herbert Marcuse of the Frankfurt School. Am Johal and Andrew Feenberg discuss Andrew’s intellectual journey with critical theory, the rise of social democratic student movements in the United States in the context of the civil rights and anti-war movements of the ‘60s, and dig into the relevance of Marcuse’s work in radical politics and art today. Full episode details: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/99-andrew-feenberg.html Read the transcript: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/transcripts/99-andrew-feenberg.html Bio: Andrew Feenberg received his PhD from the University of California, San Diego under the direction of Herbert Marcuse in 1973. From 1969-2002, he taught in the Philosophy Department of San Diego State University. From 2003-2016 he served as Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Technology in the School of Communication, Simon Fraser University, where he continues to direct the Applied Communication and Technology Lab. He was also Directeur de Progamme at the College International de Philosophie in Paris from 2013-2019. His books include Alternative Modernity (University of California, 1995), Questioning Technology (Routledge Press, 1999), The Philosophy of Praxis: Marx, Lukács and the Frankfurt School, (Verso Press, 2014), Between Reason and Experience: Essays in Technology and Modernity (MIT Press, 2010), His most recent books are Technosystem: The Social Life of Reason (Harvard, 2017), Technology, Modernity, and Democracy, co-edited with Eduardo Beira (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018), and Nishida, Kawabata, and the Japanese Response to Modernity (Chisokudõ, 2019). Several books on his work have appeared including Critical Theory and the Thought of Andrew Feenberg, edited by D. Arnold and A. Michel, and Technical Politics: Andrew Feenberg's Critical Theory of Technology by Graeme Kirkpatrick. He is also recognized as an early innovator in the field of online communication. He participated in the creation of the first online education program at the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute in 1982. He has done research on online community for the National Science Foundation and on online education for the U.S. Department of Education and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Cite this episode: Chicago Style Johal, Am. “Marcuse and the Rise of the New Left — with Andrew Feenberg.” Below the Radar, SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement. Podcast audio, January 12, 2021. https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/episodes/99-andrew-feenberg.html.