9/7/2012 Theses on the Philosophy of History

by Nathan Turowsky

Walter Benjamin was a German Jewish philosopher, born in Berlin in 1892. He is a seminal figure in socialist theory, continental philosophy, and modern theology, known for his synthesis of German idealism, Marxism, and mystical Judaism. A committed socialist in the general sense, his relationship was the orthodox Marxist-Leninist thinkers and governments of his time was complex and fraught, and he ended his life opposing both Soviet-style state socialism and the liberal left of the Western countries; he died in a seaside town in Spain in 1940 attempting to flee Europe after the fall of Paris (his adopted home), either by his own hand or that of a Stalinist sleeper agent in his traveling party.

Benjamin was interested in how a society could regain an appreciation of religion and myth after losing it and was the founder of inverse theology, a type of religious thought distinguished by the twin recognitions that religion is or was a humanizing influence in the development of civilization and that the modern secularization process is probably not reversible. Over the course of his short lifetime he became convinced that the way back to religion, myths, and gods was through aesthetics, but remained unsure of how this would be accomplished.

‘Theses on the Philosophy of History’ is Benjamin’s last work, written in Paris shortly before its fall. In it, Benjamin eviscerates the notion of ‘progress’ and attempts to dissolve Marxist theory back into the mystical interests that he believes preceded it over the course of twenty numbered paragraphs, some of them with epigraphs from other thinkers and artists, some without. The tradition of critical theory is in part predicated upon the opinion that Benjamin was more or less successful at this and the question of where one ought to go from there.

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On Friday, September 7, the plenary Philosophy Club reconvened after a summer of sporadic and sparsely attended "meetings". First Kyle and Melanie led us in an icebreaker activity in which different tables were given different rules for a card game, then the attendees, who included about ten or a dozen new prospective members, were told to mix up their table placements between rounds and forbidden from talking to each other. As an experiment in nonverbal communication and in communication from different basic assumptions, this was interesting, because it demonstrated that some of us preferred to fall back upon established or common lexicons when it became too difficult to agree upon or negotiate a new one, with many members electing to determine "winners" by rock-paper-scissors (a piece of knowledge and cultural capital that we all held in common) rather than by actually trying to play the game.

Next, Nathan led a reading of paragraphs IX and XVI and Addenda A and B from Walter Benjamin's 'Theses on the Philosophy of History'. Points of interest included what Benjamin means by 'progress' and his general reticence to define his terms. Arguments over whether or not Benjamin had any actual point and a discussion of Nathan's attempt to draw attention to the unfortunate sexist undertones of XVI by having Melanie and Annie read it ensued. After the reading, the club split into two groups, one of which Doug, a new member, helped lead to the conclusion, using paragraph I and connecting it with the Addenda, that Benjamin here is taking a leap back into theology, which he (Benjamin) views as an underpinning or precursor to Marxist historical materialism rather than a necessarily competing viewpoint. The other group had a conversation about feminism stemming from the questions over Nathan's choices in emphasizing the genderedness of Benjamin's prose, and several members floated ideas for next week.