Benjamin, Negativity, and De-vitalized Life
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6136165 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jonathan Short (Berlin University of the Arts, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | Special Issue | I |
| Issue | Special Issue | I |
| Publication date | 2017-03-07 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Anthropology & Materialism (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2364-0480 • E-ISSN: 2364-0480 |
| Publisher | OpenEdition (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.4000/am.802 |
| OpenAlex | W2594731987 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
This paper contends that Walter Benjamin’s image of life as ‘de-vitalized’ allows history to be thought negatively, as open and without promises or guarantees. This negative conception of history provides a valuable counterpoint to the prevalent variants of neo-vitalist thought that continue to think human being in terms of an abstract (vital) property to be realized historically. By refusing an image of redeemed humanity, Benjamin, like the early Marx, shows that the concept of history is necessary for thinking humanity non-essentially, and that, if it is to avoid becoming an abstract essence, historical time must be thought negatively
Aesthetics · Counterpoint · Epistemology · Humanity · Negativity effect · Property (philosophy · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Theology · Vitalism · Art, Politics, and Modernism · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Psychology · Social Psychology · Walter Benjamin Studies Compilation
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |