Benjamin’s communist idea
Aestheticized politics, technology, and the rehearsal of revolution
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12717684 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jon Simons (0000-0002-4624-4989, Indiana University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 43-60 |
| Publication date | 2014-08-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Political Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1474-8851 • E-ISSN: 1741-2730 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1474885114543569 |
| OpenAlex | W2041090463 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
Recent interest in communism as an idea prompts reconsideration of Walter Benjamin’s conception of a “communist” aesthetic politics. In spite of Benjamin’s categorical condemnation of aestheticized politics, his “artwork essay” is better read as both explicit condemnation of a particular (regressive fascist) type of aestheticized politics and implicit commendation of another (progressive communist) type. Under the modern conditions of the technological reproducibility of art, and mass politics, the character of and relationship between the cultural value spheres of politics and aesthetics also changes. Benjamin analyzes dialectically the actuality of the fascist response to modern mass arts and politics in which technology and society are misaligned, and the potentiality of a communist response that would bring about a collective interplay of humanity and technology
Aesthetics · Communism · Humanity · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Art, Politics, and Modernism · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Walter Benjamin Studies Compilation
| Citations per year | 0.13 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2018 - 2018 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |