Making the invisible visible: Goethe, Benjamin, and the critique of forms of life
Richter, Alexandra
Making the invisible visible: Goethe, Benjamin, and the critique of forms of life - 2022.
72
Like Wittgenstein, Walter Benjamin is inspired by Goethean morphology as a scientific approach to forms of life. For his book Paris, Capital of the 19th century, Benjamin claims to have transposed the Goethean concept of primitive phenomena “from the realm of nature to the realm of history.” However, this transfer is accompanied by a critique of the ontologization of the concept of “nature.” Likewise, Benjamin’s philosophical work on cities was criticized (by Adorno and also by Derrida) for ontologizing the concept of “history” by describing phenomena without theorization, excluding all judgment. The discussion already shows some of the fundamental arguments of the ongoing debate on a possible critique of forms of life.
Making the invisible visible: Goethe, Benjamin, and the critique of forms of life - 2022.
72
Like Wittgenstein, Walter Benjamin is inspired by Goethean morphology as a scientific approach to forms of life. For his book Paris, Capital of the 19th century, Benjamin claims to have transposed the Goethean concept of primitive phenomena “from the realm of nature to the realm of history.” However, this transfer is accompanied by a critique of the ontologization of the concept of “nature.” Likewise, Benjamin’s philosophical work on cities was criticized (by Adorno and also by Derrida) for ontologizing the concept of “history” by describing phenomena without theorization, excluding all judgment. The discussion already shows some of the fundamental arguments of the ongoing debate on a possible critique of forms of life.
Réseaux sociaux