Habermas Sobre Benjamin

8/11/2019 Habermas Sobre Benjamin

1/31

Consciousness-Raising or Redemptive Criticism: The Contemporaneity of Walter Benjamin

Author(s): Jrgen Habermas, Philip Brewster and Carl Howard BuchnerSource: New German Critique, No. 17, Special Walter Benjamin Issue (Spring, 1979), pp. 30-59Published by: New German CritiqueStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/488008.

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2/31

Consciousness-Raising

r

Redemptive

Criticism

The

Contemporaneity

f

WalterBenjamin*

by

Jiirgen

abermas

Even

in

a trivial ense

Benjamin

has

contemporary

elevance:

pinions

come into conflict

oday

wheneverhis name

comes

up.

Yet the

eruptive

impactBenjamin's writings ave had inthe FederalRepublicofGermany

during

the shorttime

since their

publication'

has

resulted

n

battle ines

being

drawnwhichwere

already

prefigured

n

Benjamin's

biography.

n

the

course

of

Benjamin's

life he constellationmade

up by

Gershom

cholem,

Theodor

W. Adorno and Bertolt

Brecht

was

decisive

-

so too

was his

youthful

ependence

on

the school

reformer ustav

Wyneken,

nd

later,

his

relationship

withthe

surrealists.

oday,

his

closest

friend

nd

mentor

Scholem

assumes

the

role of

unpolemical,preeminent,

nd

completely

uncompromising

dvocate

of that

dimension

n

Benjamin partial

to

the

traditions fJewish

mysticism.2

Adorno Benjamin'sheir, ritical artner,

and

forerunner

ll in

one

-

not

only

introducedthe

first

wave

of

posthumousBenjamin

reception,

ut eft n

indelible

tamp

n

it.:'

ince the

*"Bewusstmachende

der

rettendeKritik Die

Aktualittit

Walter

Benjamins,"

in

Zur

Aktualitiit

Walter

enjarnins

Frankfurt

m

Main,

1972),

pp.

175-223;

eprinted

n

Kultur

nd

Kritik

Frankfurt

m

Main,

1973),

pp.

302-344.

Published

bypermission

f

Suhrkamp

Verlag

and

Jurgen

Habermas.

'Schriften, d. T.W. Adorno and Gretel Adorno (Frankfurtm Main, 1955). Existing

English

translations f

Benjamin's

works

have been used

wherever

ossible

nd

reformelated

when

necessary.

The

following

bbreviations

have been

used: Br.

-

Briefe,

d.

Gershom

Scholem and T.W.

Adorno

(Frankfurt,

966);

Fuchs

-

"Eduard

Fuchs,

Collector and

Historian,"

n

New

German

Critique, (Spring

1975),

27-58;

G.S.

-

Gesammelte

chriften,

d.

Rolf

Tiedemann and

Hermann

SchweppenhLiuser

Frankfurt

m

Main,

1972-),

I-IV;

I.

Illuminations,

d.

Hannah Arendt

N.Y., 1969);

NLR

-

Correspondence

ith

enjamin,"

n

New

Left

Review,

81

(Sept.-Oct.

1972),

55-80;

0.

-

The

Originof

German

Tragic

Drama

(London, 1977);

R.

-

Reflections,

d.

Peter

Demetz

N.Y.,

1978).

The

following

ranslations

have

also been

consulted:

Charles

Baudelaire

London,

1973);

Understanding

recht

London,

1973).

'G. Scholem, "Walter Benjamin," "WalterBenjaminand His Angel," "Two Letters o

Walter

Benjamin,"

in

Jews and

Judaism n

Crisis

N.Y.,

1976).

By

the

same

author: The

Messianic

Idea

in

Judaism

1971);

Major

Trends

n

Jewish

Mysticism

1961).

The

latter

s

dedicated to

the

memory

f

Walter

Benjamin

trans.

'T.W.

Adorno,

"A

Portrait f

Walter

Benjamin,"

in

Prisms

London,

1967),

pp.

229-41.

The

abbreviation

AGS has

been

used

for

Adorno's

Gesammelte

chriften,

d. Rolf

Tiedemann

(Frankfurt

m

Main,

1970)-),

23

vols.

30

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3/31


1

death

of

Peter

Szondi

(who

undoubtedly

ouldhave stood

here

today

n

my

place),

Adorno's

position

has

been

maintained

primarily

y Benjamin's

editors,TiedemannandSchweppenhiuser.4rechtmusthave functioneds

a sortof

reality

rinciple

or

Benjamin,

for

t

was underhis nfluence hat

Benjamin

was

led

to break

with

the esoteric lementof his

style

nd his

thought.

ollowing

Brecht's

ead,

Marxist

heorist f art uch as

Hildegard

Brenner,

Helmut Lethen and Michael

Scharang

are

today

able to

shift

Benjamin's

late

work

decisively

nto

the

perspective

f

class

struggle.5

Gustav

Wyneken

was

at first

model for

Benjamin's

activity

n

the "Free

School

Community"

Freie

Schulgemeinde)

and

though

ven while

till

student

Benjamin

repudiated

Wyneken

s hismodel

Br., 120), Wyneken's

figure ignals ertain ies ndimpulses hat ersistednBenjamin.Thisneo-

conservative

enjamin

has more

recently

ound

n

intelligent

nd undaun-

ted

apologist

n Hannah

Arendt,

who would ike

to

safeguard

enjamin,

he

impressionable,

ulnerable

esthete,

ollector

nd hommes e

lettres,

gainst

the

ideological

claims of

his

Marxist and

Zionist

friends."

And

finally,

Benjamin's

close

relationship

o

surrealism as

once

again

come

to

ight

with

the

second

wave of

Benjamin

reception,

reception

whose

impetus

tems

from

hestudent

evolts;

his

elationship

as been documented

n

theworks

of

Bohrer and

Biirger

mong

others.7

In the no man's and between hesefronts as arisen bodyofBenjamin

criticism

hattreats

ts

material

n

scholarly

ashion,

nd

respectably

ives

notice to

the

imprudent

hat this

s

no

longer

unfamiliar errain.' f this

academic treatment f the

matter ffers

possible

corrective o the

dispute

between

the various

parties

that has

very

nearly

splintered

Benjamin's

image,

t

certainly

rovides

no

alternative.

or are the

competingnterpre-

tations

merely

tacked on.

I

doubt

if it was

only

a

predilection

or

the

4P. Szondi, "Nachwort," in Benjamin, StiidtebilderFrankfurtm Main, 1963). For

Tiedemann and

Schweppenhauser,

f.

G.S.;

cf. also

Tiedemann,

Studien

ur

Philosophie

W.

Benjamins

hereafter

ited as Studien.

5H.

Brenner,

"Die Lesbarkeit er Bilder.

Skizzen

um

Passagenentwurf,"

n

alternative,

9-

60

(1968),

48

ff.H.

Lethen,

Zur

materialistischen

unsttheorie

enjamins,"

n

alternative,

6-

57

(1967),

225-234.

M.

Scharang,

Zur

Emanzipation

er

Kunst,

Neuwied, 1971).

H.H.

Holz,

Vom

Kunstwerk

ur

Ware,

Neuwied, 1972).

"Arendt,

"Introduction:

Walter

Benjamin

1892-1940,"

n

I.,

pp.

1-55.

7P.

Buirger,

er

franzosische

urrealismus

Frankfurt

m

Main,

1971).

K.H.

Bohrer,

Die

gefiihrdete

hantasieoder Surrealismus nd

Terror

Munich,

1970).

E.

Lenk,

Der

springende

Narziss

(Munich, 1971).

G.

Steinwachs,

Mythologie

es Surrealismus

der die

Riichverwand-

lungvon Kultur n Natur Neuwied, 1971). Adorno's critique fsurrealism an be found n

Noten

ur

Literatur,

GS

11,

pp.

101-105;

ollowing

im

s:

H.M.

Enzensberger,

Die

Aporien

der

A

vantgarde,

in

Einzelheiten,

Frankfurt

m

Main,

1962),

pp.

290-315.

For

information

concerning

he state of

secondary

iterature:W.S.

Rubin,

"The

D-S

Expedition,"

The New

York

Review

of

Books, XVIII,

9-10

1972).

"Cf.

the

Benjamin

ssue of the

ournal

Text

nd

Kritik

30-31, 1971)

nd

especially

he

ssays

by

B.

Lindner,

P.

Krumme,

L.

Wiesenthal,

nd an annotated

bibliographypp.

85

ff.)

with

references

o dissertations

n

Benjamin

n

progress.



4/31

32

Habermas

mysterious,

s Adorno

records,

hat ed

Benjamin

to

keep

his friends

part

from

ach

other:

only

as

some sort

of

surrealisticcene could

one

imagine

seeing Scholem, Adorno and Brecht gatheredtogetherfor a peaceful

symposium

round a

table,

under

which

Breton

nd

Aragon

are

squatting,

while

Wyneken

tands t the door

-

gathered

n

order et

us

say

to

discuss

the

Spirit

f Utopia

Geist

der

Utopie)

r

ndeed he

Spirit

s

Adversary

f

the

Soul

(Geist

als Widersacher

er

Seele).

*

Benjamin's

intellectual

xistence

has

takenon

so

much

f

surreal

uality

hat ne shouldnot onfront

t

with

unreasonable

demands

of

consistency

nd

continuity. enjamin

combined

diverging

motifs,

yet

without

actually

unifying

hem.

And if

they

were

unified,

hen t would

have

to

be

in

as

many

ndividual

nities s

there

re

elements in which the interestedgaze of succeeding generationsof

interpreters

ttempts

o

pierce

the

crust

nd

penetrate

o

regions

where

there re veins

of iveore.

Benjamin

belongs

o those

uthors

who

cannot

be

summarized nd whose

work

s

disposed

o a

history

f

disparate

ffects.

We

encounter

these authors

only

with the sudden

flash of

contemporary

immediacy

n which

thought

akes

power

and holds

sway

for

n

historical

instant.

enjamin

was

accustomed

o

explicate

ontemporaneity

Aktualitiit)

in

terms f the

Talmudic

egend

n

which,

angels

innumerable

ost fnew

ones at

every

moment

(are)

created

n

order

o,

once

they

ave

sung

heir

hymnnGod's presence, ease anddisappear nto hevoid" (G.S. II, 246).

I

would

like to take

as

my point

of

departure

sentence

Benjamin

directed at one

time

against

the

methodsof

cultural

history:

Cultural

history,

o be

sure,

ncreases

he

weight

f

the treasurewhich

ccumulates

on the back of

humanity.

et

cultural

istory

oes not

provide

he

trength

to

shake

off

his

burden

n

order o

be able to

take control f t"

Fuchs,36).

It is

precisely

here that

Benjamin

sees

the taskof

criticism.t is not from

historicist

tandpoint

f

accumulated

ulture

oods

that

Benjamin

views he

documentsof

culture,

which

re at the

same

timethose of

barbarism,

ut

rather rom critical tandpointfthedisintegrationfculture intogoods

which,"

as

Benjamin

adamantly expresses

it,

can

become

"objects

of

possession

for

mankind"

ibid., 35).

Benjamin

does

not,however,

peak

of

a

"dialectical

overcoming

Aufhebung)

f

culture."

I

Herbert

Marcuse,

on

the other

hand,

does

speak

of

an

overcoming

f

culture

n

his

1937

essay

on

"The

Affirmative

haracter

f

Culture."-'

With

*

Translators'

Note]

Geist

der

Utopie

ppeared

in

1918

nd

was

written

y

Ernst

loch,

who

was already a good friend f both Benjamin's and Scholem's at that timeand who was

introduced

o

Adorno

byBenjamin

ten

years

ater n

Berlin;

f.

Man

on His

Own

N.Y.,

1972).

Geist

als

Widersacher

er Seele

appeared

in

1929

and

was

written

y

the

German

cultural

philosopher

udwig

Klages; Benjamin,

lthough

ware of

Klages'

anti-semitism

nd

"common

cause with

fascism,"

maintained an

avid

interest

n

Klages'

work

on

language,

myth,

graphology

rom he

time

of

their

ersonal

cquaintance

during

enjamin's

tudent

ays

until

the end of his

ife.

"Marcuse,

Negations

Boston, 1968),

pp.

88-133.



5/31


33

respect

to

classical

bourgeois

art

he

criticizes

he

two-fold

haracter

f

a

world of

beautiful

ppearance

(schoner

Schein)

that

establishes

tself s

autonomous, i.e., beyondbourgeoiscompetition nd social labor. This

autonomy

s

illusory scheinhaft),

n

that

nly

n

therealm

f

fiction

oes

art

allow

the

fulfillmentf an individual laimto

happiness,

whereas

t

veilsthe

complete

absence of

happiness

n

day-to-day eality.

here

is at the same

time an

element

of

truth

n

the

autonomy

of

art,

since

the ideal of the

beautiful

ives xpression

o the

onging

or

happier

ife,

or

he

humanity,

friendliness nd

solidarity

withheld

n

every

existence,

nd

thereby

ran-

scends the

status

uo:

"Affirmativeulturewas thehistorical orm

n

which

were

preserved

hose human

wants

which

urpassed

hematerial

eproduc-

tionofexistence.To that xtent,what s true ftheform fsocialrealityo

which it

belonged

holds for t as well:

right

s on its side.

Certainly,

t

exonerated

external onditions'

rom

esponsibility

or he vocation f

the

human

being,'

thus

tabilizing

heir

njustice.

ut

s

also

held

up

to

them s a

task

the

mage

of a better rder"

op.

cit.,

120).

Marcuse

confrontshis

rt

by enforcing

he claim

implicit

n

the

critique

of

ideology:

the truth

articulated

n

bourgeois

ideals,

but reservedfor the

sphere

of

beautiful

appearance,

must

be taken

iterally.

his

means that rt

s

a

sphere

evered

from

eality

mustbe overcome

dialectically.

Whereas beautiful ppearance is the medium n which ivilsociety t

least

expresses

its own

ideals,

while

at

the

same time

veiling

their

suspension,

the

critique

of art

as

ideology

leads

to

the demand

for

the

dialectical abolition

Aufhebung)

f

autonomous

rt,

a demand

to

reinte-

grate

culture

per

se into

the material

process

of

life.

Revolutionizing

he

relations

f ife

n

civil

ociety

means

thedialectical bolition

f

culture:

To

the extent

thatculture

has transmuted

ulfillable,

ut

factually

nfulfilled,

longings

and

instincts,

t will

lose its

object

. .

.

Beauty

will find

new

embodiment

when

t no

longer

s

represented

s real

illusion

but,

nstead,

expressesreality nd joy inreality" ibid., 130f.).

Face

to face with

he fascistmass

art

of

the

period,

Marcuse could not

ignore

the

possibility

f

a false bolition

f

culture.He

counterposed

o this

another

nstance f

politicized

rt,

ne which

hirty

ears

ater

eemed,

for

moment,

to assume concrete

form

n

the

flower-strewn

arricades

f

the

Paris students. In his

Essay

on

Liberation,

Marcuse

interpreted

he

surrealist

raxis

of the

youth

evolt s the dialectical

vercoming

f

culture

through

which rt

passed

over

into

ife.

'

A

year

beforeMarcuse's

essay

on the affirmativeharacter

f

culture,

Benjamin's articleThe WorkofArt n theAge ofits TechnicalReproduci-

bility

had

appeared

in

the same

journal,

the

Zeitschrift

iir

ozialforschung

"'Marcuse,

An

Essay

on Liberation

Boston,

1969),

especially

hapter

I,

pp.

30ff.Marcuse

has

developed

and

in

part

modified

his

perspective

n

Counterrevolution

nd Revolt

Boston,

1972),

Ch.

2:

"Art

and

Revolution,"

pp.

79-128.

cf. G.

Rohrmoser,

Herrschaft

nd

Versohnung,

sthetik nd die Kulturrevolutiones

Westens

Freiburg,

972).



6/31

34 Habermas

(I.,

217-251).*

It almostseems

as ifMarcuse

only

recast

Benjamin's

more

subtle

observations

nto he

anguage

f the

critique

f

deology.

The theme

is once again the dialectical bolition Aufhebung) f autonomous rt. The

secular

cult

of

beauty

was to

develop

only

with the Renaissance and

prevailed

for hree

enturies

ibid.,

224).

As art

becomes

eparated

rom ts

basis

in

cult,

the

appearance

of its

autonomy disappears

(ibid.,

226).

Benjamin

lends

support

to his

thesis,

"that art has left he realm of

the

'beautiful

ppearance',"

by

pointing

o the

change

n

the

status f the

work

of

art and the

change

n

the

mode of

ts

reception

ibid., 230).

The

destruction

f

aura

brings

with

t

shift

n

the nnermost

tructure

f

the work of

art;

the

sphere

once removed

from nd set

up

in

opposition

o

thematerialprocessof ifenowdisintegrates.he work f artwithdrawsts

ambivalent

laimto

imperious

uthenticity

nd

inviolability.

t

relinquishes

to

the viewer

ts

historical

estimony

s well

as

its

cultic

ffering.

enjamin

had noted

already

n

1927: "What we used

to

call

art,

nly

tarts

wo

meters

away"

(G.S.

II,

622).

The

trivialized

ork f

art

wins

xhibition alue at the

price

of

its cult value."

Corresponding

o the

changed

structure f

the

workof

art,

there s a

change

n

the

perception

nd

reception

f art. When art s

autonomous,

t s

orientedto individual

njoyment;

fter

he oss

of

ts

ura,

t s

oriented

o

mass reception.Benjamin contrasts ontemplation,haracteristicf the

viewer

as an isolated

ndividual,

with

distraction,

hich

marks

collective

sensitized

to

external

stimuli:

"In the

degeneration

f the

bourgeoisie,

meditation became a school

for

asocial

behavior;

it

was countered

by

diversion

s

a

variety

f the

play

of

social behavior"

ibid.,

238).

Moreover,

Benjamin

sees

in

this ollective

eception

n

enjoyment

f

art

which

s

both

instructive

nd

critical.

I

believe

I can distill

he

concept

of

a mode

of

reception

rom

hesenot

always

consistent

tatements,

concept

which

Benjamin

elicited

from

he

reactionsofa film udience thatwas relaxedyetpossessedof tspresence f

mind:

"Let us

compare

he

creen

n

which film

nfolds ith

he anvas

f

painting.

The

painting

nvites he

viewer

to

contemplation;

efore

t

the

viewer

can

abandon

him/herself

o

his/her

wn flow f

associations.

Before

the movie

frame

e/she

annotdo so . . .

In

fact,

when

person

iews hese

constantly

hanging

film) mages

his/her

tream f

ssociationss

mmediately

*

Translators'

Note]

The titles f thiswork nd theone

by

Adorno mentioned elow have

been taken from he

English

summaries hat

accompanied

their

riginal

publication

n the

Zeitschriftir Sozialforschung.he titlegivenBenjamin'sessay n lluminationsstranslated

from he Frenchversion n

which

he

essay

first

ppeared.

The

text

f

this

nglish

ranslation,

however,

orresponds

o theGerman

version eferredo

by

Habermas nd differs

ubstantially

from

he French.

''

Certain

mages

of the

Madonna

remain

overed

nearly

ll

year

round;

ertain

culptures

on medieval

cathedrals

re

notvisible o

the

viewer n

ground

evel.

With

he

emancipation

f

the various

art

practices

from

ritual

go

increasing pportunities

or

the

exhibition f

their

products"

1.,

225).



7/31


35

disrupted.

This

constitutes

he shockeffect f the

film,

which ike all shock

effects eeds

to be

parriedby

a

heightened resence

fmind.Because

of ts

technical tructure,he film as liberated hephysical hock ffect rom he

moral

cushioning

n whichDadaism

had,

as it

were,

held

t"

(ibid., 238).

In

this

discontinuous eries

of

shocks,

the work of art

divested of its aura

releases

experiences

which

ormerly

ad been locked

up

in

ts soteric

tyle.

The assimilation

f these hocks

requires resence

fmind.Here

Benjamin

observes

the exoteric dissolution

of the cultic

spell imposed

upon

the

isolated

viewer

by

the affirmative

haracter f

bourgeois

ulture.

There

is a

change

in the

function

f art the moment

he workof art s

emancipated

from ts

parasitic

ependence

on ritual."

Benjamin

onceives

this s a politicizationfart: "Instead ofbeingbased onritual,tbegins obe

based

on

another

practice politics

ibid., 224).

In

the face

of

fascist

mass

art,

which claims

to be a

political

one,

Benjamin,

like

Marcuse,

certainly

sees

the

danger

of

a false

bolition

Aufhebung)

f art.

The

propaganda

rt

of the Nazis

accomplishes,

t s

true,

he

iquidation

f art s

an autonomous

realm,

but

beneath the

veil of

politicization

ll it

really

does

is serve

to

aestheticize naked

political

force

Gewalt).

It

replaces

the

destroyed

ult

value

of

bourgeois

art

withone that s

manipulatively

anufactured.

he

cultic

spell

is broken

only

to be

synthetically

enewed:

mass

reception

become mass

suggestion.'2

It

seems

that

Benjamin's

theory

f art

develops

a

concept

of culture

based

on the

critique

of

ideology

that

Marcuse

will take

up

a

year

later.

Nevertheless,

he

parallels

are

deceptive.

see four ssential

differences.

(a)

Marcuse

proceeds

by

way

of the

critique

f

ideology,

n

order

to

raise

to consciousness

hecontradiction

etween

deal and

reality

idden

n

the

exemplaryproducts

of

bourgeois

art.

Yet this

critique

mounts

to a

dialectical

abolition

of autonomous

art

only

in the realm of

thought.

Benjamin,

on the

other

hand,

does

not make

critical emands

on a

culture

which remains substantially nshaken. He describes ratherthe actual

process

of the

disintegration

f that aura

upon

which

bourgeois

art

had

based

the

appearance

of its

autonomy.

He

proceeds

descriptively.

e

observes

a

change

n thefunction

fart hat

Marcuse

anticipates

nly

or he

moment

t

which

he

relations

f ife re

revolutionized.

(b)

Thus

it s

striking

hat

Marcuse,

like dealist

esthetics

n

general,

limitshimself

o those

periods

which

ourgeois

onsciousness

tself cknow-

ledges

as

classical.

His orientation

epends

on a

concept

f aesthetic

eauty

in which ssence

appears

symbolically.

lassical

works

f

art,

specially

he

novel and bourgeoistragicdrama (biirgerlichesrauerspiel)n literature,

2"Fascist

art

s not

only

executed

or

masses,

but

also

by

masses

. .

(It)

puts spell

on the

performers

s well as

on

the

recipients

nd

under this

pell

they

must

ppear

to

themselves

monumental, .e.,

incapable

of well-considered

nd

independent

ctions

..

Only

withthe

behavior

that

his

pell

mposes

on

them re themasses ble

to

give xpression

o

themselves t

all

-

or so Fascism

teaches"

(G.S.

III,

488).



8/31

36

Habermas

become suitable

objects

for

critique

f

deology recisely

ecause of

their

affirmative

haracter,

ust

like rational

natural

aw in the realm

of

political

philosophy.Benjamin's interest, owever,

oncerns

non-affirmative

orms

of

art;

while

investigating

he

baroque Trauerspiel,

e

found

f

counter-

concept

to

the

individual

totality

of the

transfiguring

rtwork n

the

allegorical.

Allegory

expresses

an

experience

of

negativity

an

exper-

ience

of

suffering,

uppression,

he

unreconciled nd the

unfortunate

and

hence militates

gainst

symbolic

rt

which s

disposed

positively,

romising

under false

pretenses

and

projecting

n

advance

happiness,

freedom,

reconciliation

nd

fulfillment.

hereasthe

critique

f

deology

s

necessary

to

decipher

nd surmount

ymbolic

rt,

llegory

s

critique

tself or

rather

it

refers

o

critique:

"What

has survived s

the

extraordinary

etail of

the

allegorical

references: n

object

of

knowledge

whosehaunt ies

amidst he

consciously

onstructed

uins.

Criticism s the

mortification

f

the

works.

This

is cultivated

y

the

essence of

uch

production

more

readily

han

by ny

other"

(0.,

182).

(c)

In this

ontext t

s

important

o

note

further

hat

Marcuse omits

consideration

f

the

transformationsf

bourgeois

rt

by

the

avant-garde,

which

evade

the

direct

grasp

of

a

critique

f

ideology,

whereas

Benjamin

demonstrates he

process

of

autonomous

art's

dialectical

bolition

n

the

history

f

modernity. enjamin,

who

regards

he

appearance

of

the

urban

masses as a "matrix romwhich ll traditional ehavior owardworks fart

emerges

rejuvenated"

(I.,

239),

discovers a

point

of

contact

with

this

phenomenon

precisely

n

those

works

which

seem to

hermetically

eal

themselves

off

from t:

"The

masses have

become

so much

a

part

of

Baudelaire

that

ne

searches

n

vain for

description

f

them n

his

works"

(ibid.,

167).

"

Benjamin pursues

the

tracesof

modernity

ecause

they

ead

to

the

point

where

"the

realm

of

poetry

s

exploded

from

within"

R.,

178).

Insight

nto the

necessity

f

dialectically

vercoming

utonomous

rt

rises

from he

reconstruction

f

what he

vant-garde

eveals bout

bourgeois

rt

bytransformingt.

(d)

Finally,

the

decisive

difference

etween

Marcuse

and

Benjamin

lies

in

the

fact hat

Benjamin

conceives

he

demise

of

autonomous rt

s the

result of

a

revolution

n

reproduction

echnics.

Benjamin

delineates

the

respective

functions

f

painting

nd

photography

n

an

exemplaryway.

By

means of

this

omparison

he shows

he

consequences

f

thenew

techniques

"'Whereas in the symboldestruction s idealized and the transfiguredace of nature s

fleetingly

evealed

in the

light

f

redemption,

n

allegory

he

observer

s

confronted

ith he

facies

hippocratica

f

history

s

a

petrified,

rimordial

andscape

.

.

This s

the

heart f

the

allegorical

way

of

seeing,

of

the

baroque,

secular

explanation

f

history

s

the Passion

of

the

world;

its

mportance

esides

olely

n

the

stations

f

ts

declines"

0.,

166).

"Therefore

Benjamin

opposes

a

superficial

nderstanding

f

I'art

pour

I'art:

"This

is

the

moment o

embark

n

a work

hatwould

lluminates

has no

other

he

risis

f

the rts

hat

we

are

witnessing:

history

f

esoteric

poetry

. .

On its

ast

page

one

would

have to

find

he

x-ray

image

of

surrealism"

R.

184).



9/31


7

which

gained ground

n

the

19th

entury

nd

which,

is

ai

vis thetraditional

reproduction

processes operative

in

casting,printing,

woodcutting,

n-

graving

nd

lithography,epresent

new

stage

of

development, stage

which

s

analogous

to thatushered

n

by

the nvention

f

the

printing

ress.

Benjmain

could observe

n his

own

day

a

development

n

records,

ilm nd

radio that

has continued

with he electronic

media at

an accelerated

pace.

The

techniques

and

technologies

of

reproduction

ave

a

radical

effect

on the

inner

structure

f works

of

art. The

work forfeits ts

spatial

and

temporal

individuality

n the

one

hand,

but

gains

a

documentary

authenticity

n

the other.

The

fleeting

nd

repeatable

form f

temporal

structure

eplaces

the

unique

and

enduring

formof

temporal

tructure

typical

f the

autonomous

work

nd

thereby estroys

he

ura,

"the

unique

appearance

of a distance"

sharpens

"sensefor ameness n theworld"

I.,

222

f.). Things

tripped

f

their ura draw

nearer

o themasses

because

the

object

is more

precisely

and

realistically epresented

by

the technical

medium

which ntervenes

etween

t and

the

selective

ensory rgans.

The

authenticity

f

the material

ndeed calls

for constructive

mployment

f

the

means

of realistic

epresentation,

ence,

montage

nd

literarynterpre-

tation

captions

n

photography).

II

As these distinctionshow, Benjamin does not allow himself o be

guided

by

a

concept

of

art

based

on

the

critique

of

ideology.

He

means

something

lse

by

thedemiseof

autonomous

rtthan

does Marcuse

with

his

demand

for hedialectical

bolition

f culture.Marcuse

confrontsdeal

and

reality

nd

raises

to

consciousness

he

unconscious ontent

f

bourgeois

rt

which

both

legitimates

nd

unintentionally

enounces

bourgeois

reality;

Benjamin's

analysis

on the

other hand

dispenses

with the

form f

self-

reflection.

Marcuse,

by

undermining

bjective

llusions

nalytically,

ould

like to

prepare

for

change

n thematerial

onditions

f

ife hus

unveiled:

he would like to usher n the dialectical bolitionof theculture n which

these

relations

re

stabilized.

Benjamin

however annot

view his task

as

an

attack

on

an art

already

pproaching

tsend. His

critique

f

art

pproaches

its

objects

in

conservative

fashion,

whether

dealing

with the

Baroque

Trauerspiel,

Goethe's Elective

Affinities,

audelaire's

Fleur

du

Mal,

or

the

Soviet

film

f

the

early

twenties. t

aims,

t

s

true,

t "the mortification

f

the works"

0.,

182),

but

critique

ommits

uch

destruction

nly

n order o

transpose

what s

worth

knowing

rom

he

medium

f

thebeautiful

nto hat

of

the truth

and

thereby

o

rescue

nd

redeem

t.

'5Here, too,

Benjamin

sees Dadism

as a forerunner

fthe echnical

rts,

lthough mploying

other

means:

"The

revolutionarytrength

f

Dadaism

lay

n

testing

rt

for ts

uthenticity.

ou

made

still-lifes

ut

of

tickets,

pools

of

cotton,

igarette

utts,

nd

mixed

them

with

pictorial

elements.

You

put

frame

ound he

whole

thing.

And

in

this

wayyou

howed

he

public:

ook,

your picture

frame

xplodes

time;

the smallest

uthentic

ragment

f

everyday

ife

ays

more

than

painting.

Just s a

murderer's

loodyfingerprint

n a

page

says

more han

he

book's

text.

Much

of

this

revolutionary

ontent

has rescued

and redeemed

itself

by

passing

into

photomontage"

R.,

229).



10/31

38

Habermas

Benjamin's

peculiar

onception

f

history

xplains

he

mpulse

o

rescue

and

redeem.'"

A

mystical

ausality

eigns

n

history

n

such

a manner

hat

thereexists"a secretagreementbetweenpast generations nd ours...

Like

every

generation

hat

precedes

us,

we

have

been

endowedwith

weak

messianic

power,

a

power

on

which

he

past

has a claim"

(Theses

on

the

Philosophy

of

History,

n

I.,

254).

This

claim can

only

be

fulfilled

y

the

incessantly

enewed xertion

f the

critical aculties

nabling

he

historical

gaze

to

strain toward

a

past

in

need of

redemption.

This effort

s

conservative

n an

eminent

ense,

"for

every

mage

of the

past

that s

not

recognized

by

the

present

s

one

of tsown concerns hreatens o

disappear

irretrievably"ibid.,

255).

If the

claim

s not

fulfilled,

hen

danger

hreatens

"both thecontent ftradition nd itsreceivers" ibid.). 7

For

Benjamin,

the

continuum f

history

onsists

n

the

permanence

of the

unbearable;

progress

s

the eternalreturn

f the

catastrophe:

The

concept

of

progress

should be

founded

in

the idea of

catastrophe,"

Benjamin

notes n a

draft f his

Baudelaire

work,

the

fact

hat

everything

just goes

on'

is the

catastrophe"

G.S.

I,

583).

Therefore

edemption

must

hold on

to

"the

small

kip

or

crack

n the

continuous

atastrophe."

he idea

of a

present

n

which

ime

draws o a

stop

and comes to

a standstill umbers

among Benjamin's

oldest

insights.

n the

"Theses on the

Philosophy

f

History,"writtenhortlyeforehisdeath, tands he entral enet: History

is the

object

of a

construction hose site

forms ot

homogeneous,

mpty

time,

buttime

filled

y

the

presence

f

the

now'

Jetztzeit,

unc

tans).

Thus

to

Robespierre

ancient

Rome

was a

past charged

with he time

of the now

which

he

blastedout

of

the

contiuum

f

history"

I.,

261).

One

of

his

arliest

essays,

"The

Life of

Students,"

begins

in

a

similarsense:

"There

is

a

conception

of

history

which,

in

its faith

in

the

endlessness

of

time,

distinguishes nly

between

the

differences

n

tempo

of human

beings

nd

epochs rolling

with

more

or

less

speed

toward

he future

long

the

track f

progress.The following onsiderations,n the otherhand are concerned

with

specific

tate

of

affairs

n

which

history

ests s if

ollected

n

a

focal

point,

as it

always

has in the

utopian

mages projected by

thinkers.

he

elements

of the

ultimate

state of

affairs re

not

manifest s

formless

"'Tiedemann,

Studien,

pp.

103

ff.,;

H.D.

Kittsteiner,

Die

Geschichtsphilosophischert

Thesen,

in

alternative,

5-66,

243-251.

'iThe

redemptive ower

of

retrospective

ritique

must

not,

of

course,

be

confused

with

he

empathy

nd

identification ith

he

past

which

historicism

dopted

from

omanticism: With

Romanticismbeginsthehuntforfalsewealth,for heannexation feverypast.Thiswas not

achieved

through

he

progressive

mancipation

f

humanity, way

n

which t

could look its

own

history

n

the

eye

with

ncreasing

resence

of

mind nd

alwaysget

new

tips

from

t,

but

rather

hrough

he

imitation f

all the works

t

managed

to

dig

up

out

of

peoples

and world

epochs

that

had

died

out"

(G.S.

II,

581).

This

reference

s,

on

the

other

hand,

not

a

recommendation or

hermeneutic

nterpretation

f

history

s a

continuum f

historical

ffects

nor

a

recommendation

or

the

reconstruction

f

history

s a

formative

rocess

Bildungs-

prozess)

for he

species.

Such

s

precluded y

his

deeply ntievolutionary

onception

f

history.



11/31


39

tendencies f

progress,

utrather

re

embedded

n

every resent

s

the

most

endangered,

discredited

nd

ridiculed reations

nd

thoughts"

G.S.

II,

75).

To be sure,therehas been a shiftn the nterpretationfa redemptive

and

rescuing

ntervention

nto

past

since

the

doctrine

f

deas

presented

n

the book

on the

Baroque

Trauerspiel.

arlier,

the

retrospectively

irected

gaze

was

to

gather

p

and enclose therescued

phenomenon

nto

he

world

f

ideas after

t had

escaped

the

process

of

becoming

nd

disappearance.

With

its

entrance

nto the

sphere

of the

eternal,

he

original

ccurence

divests

itself

of

its

past

and

subsequent

history,

which

has

become

virtual,

ike

natural-historical

estments

0.,

45-7).

This

constellation

f natural

history

and

eternityyields

later to that

of

history

nd

Jetztzeit:

he messianic

cessationof eventsreplacesorigin.'"The enemy,however,whoendangers

the dead

as

much

s the

iving

when

redemptive

riticism

ails o

appear

and

forgetfulnesspreads,

remains he ame:

namely

hedominance f

mythical

fate.

Myth

marks debased

human

pecies,

hopelessly

eprived

f

the

good

and

just

life

forwhich t

was determined

banished

to a cursed

cycle

of

merely eproducing

tself

nd

surviving.

Mythical

ate

an

be

brought

o

a

standstill

for

only

an

ephemeral

moment.The

fragments

f

experience

which re wrested

rom

ate n such

moments,

rom he ontinuum

f

empty

time forthe

contemporary

mmediacy

f the

Jetztzeit,

orm

he

content

f

endangered radition,o which hehistoryf rtbelongs swell. Tiedemann

quotes

the

passage

from

he "Paris Arcades"

project:

"There is

a

place

in

every

true work

of art

where,

ike the

breeze

of

an

approaching

awn,

a

certain

ool refreshes

homever

emoves

himself here.

t

follows

rom his

that

rt,

which

was

often iewed

s

refractory

o

any

relation

o

progress,

an

serve

its

genuine

determination.

rogress

s

not

at

home

n

the

continuity,

but rather

n

the

nterferences

f the

course

of time:

where

omething

ruly

new

makes itself

felt for

the

first ime

with

all the

sobriety

f

dawn"

(Tiedemann,

Studien,

pp.

103

f.).

The pre-historyfmodernity lannedby Benjamin,though ompleted

only

in

fragments,

s

also relevant

n

this

context.

Baudelaire

becomes

something

f central

mportance

o

Benjamin

because

his

poetry

rings

o

light

the new

n

the

repeatedly

ame,

and the

repeatedly

ame

in

the

new"

(G.S.

I.

673).

In the

accelerating process

of

antiquation,

which

understands

nd

misunderstands

tself

s

progress,

Benjamin's

critique

discovers

coinci-

dence

withwhat has

existed

from

ime

mmemorial.

his

critique

dentifies

the

mythical

ompulsion

to

repeat

that

nfiltrates

apitalism,

espite

the

modernizationof the patternsof existence impelled by the forcesof

production

the

repeatedly

ame

in

the

new.

But

in

doing

o,

this riticism

"B.

Lindner,

"'Natur-Geschichte'

eine

Geschichtsphilosophie

nd

Welterfahrung

n

Benjamins

Schriften,

in

Text

und

Kritik,

.

56.

'In

this

sense,

enlightened

ciences

such

as

systems

heory

nd

behaviorist

sychology

conceive

of

human

beings

as

"mythical" eings.



12/31

40

Habermas

aims at the

redemption

of a

past charged

with

"Jetztzeit,"

nd

that

distinguishes

t

from he

critique

f

ideology.

t ascertains

he moments

n

whichthe artistic ensibility uts a stop to fatedraped as progress nd

encodes

the

utopian experience

n a

dialectical

mage

-

the new in

the

repeatedly

same.

The

transformationf

modernity

nto

prehistory

as

a

double

meaning

n

Benjamin.

Both the

myth

tself

nd

thesubstance f

the

images,

which

alone

can

be

broken out

of

myth,

re

prehistoric.

hese

images

mustbe

critically

enewed

n

another,

lmost waited

present

nd

rendered

o

"freadability"

Lesbarkeit)

n

order hat

heymight

e

preserved

as tradition

or

rue

progress.20

Benjamin's

anti-evolutionaryonception

f

history,

n

which

Jetztzeit

nd the

continuum

f

natural

history

tand

opposed, does not remain completelyblind to progressmade in the

emancipation

of

humanity.

ut

Benjamin's anti-evolutionary

onception

takes

a

gravely

pessimistic

iew

of

the

changes

for the

selective

break-

throughs,

whichundermine he

repeatedly

ame,

to unite nto

a

tradition

and

not

fall

prey

o

being forgotten.

At the

same

time,

Benjamin

without doubtdiscerns

continuity

hich

as

linear

progress

reaks

through

he

cycle

of natural

history,

ut

nonethe-

less

endangers

thereby

he

content

of

tradition.

t

is the

continuity

f

disenchantment

Entzauberung),

whose

final

tage

Benjamin

diagnoses

s

the lossofaura: "In prehistoricimes, ecause of theabsolute mphasis n

its

ult

value,

thework f

rt

was,

first

nd

foremost,

n

instrumentf

magic.

Only

later did it

come to

be

recognized

s a workof

art.

In

the same

way

today,

because

of

theabsolute

emphasis

n

its

xhibition

alue,

thework f

art becomes a

structure ith

ntirely

ew

functions,

mong

which he one

we are

conscious

of,

the artistic

function,

ater

may

be

recognized

as

incidental"

I.,

225).

Benjamin

does not

explain

this

processby

which

rt

develops away

from

itual;

ne

should

probably

nderstandt s a

part

f

the

world-historical

ationalization

rocess

-

Max Weber also

uses the term

disenchantmentorthisprocess:thesurging evelopment fthe forces f

production

evolutionizes he mode of

production

nd

causes

a

rationaliza-

tion

process

n

social

patterns

f

existence.

Autonomous rt

stablishes tself

only

to

the

extent hat

he arts re

freed

rom he

context

f ritual se. This

occurs

only

when,

in

the

emergence

of

civil

society,

the

economic and

political

ystems

re

unleashed

from

he

cultural

ystem

nd

thetraditional

images

of the

world

are undermined

y

the

ideology

that

ttaches

o the

economic base

-

the

ideology

f

ust

exchange.2

2""And

indeed,

this

ttainment f

readibility'

s

a

well-determinedritical

oint

within

hem

(the

dialectical

mages).

Every

present

s

determined

hrough

hose

mages ynchronic

ith t:

every

now s thenow of

well-determined

ecognizability.

n

the

now,

truth

s

charged

with

ime

to

the

point

of

exploding"

cited

from

iedemann,

Studien,

.

310).

'"Autonomy"

here

designates

he

ndependence

fworks

f art

vis vis

claims aid to

them

for their

employment

n

contexts

xternal

o

art,

the

autonomy

f

artistic

roduction

ould

already

start

developing

arlier,

namely

within

atron

forms

f

alimentation.



13/31


41

It

is

to

its

commodity

haracter

hat

art owes

its iberation

n

the first

place;

it

was a

liberation or he

private

njoyment

f the

bourgeois

eading

and theater, xhibitionnd concertpublicthat ame intobeing nthe 17th

and

18th

centuries."2

he

continuation f

this ame

process,

to

which rt

owes

its

autonomy,

lso leads to

the

iquidation

f

art.

Already

n

the

19th

century

t

becomes

noticeable

hat he

public omposed

of

bourgeois rivate

persons

gives

way

to urban collectives f

the

working

opulation.

For this

reason,

Benjamin

concentrates

n

Paris

as

the

urban enter

ar

excellence

and on the

phenomena

f

mass

art,

for as

Benjamin

oncludeshis

passage

on

the

process by

which art

develops away

from

ritual "this much is

certain:

oday,

photography

nd

the

film

rovide

hemost

uitablemeansto

recognizethis" ibid.)

III

On no other

point

did Adorno

oppose Benjamin

o

vigorously.

dorno

considers he

mass art

merging

ith

he

new

techniques

nd

technologies

f

reproduction

as a

degeneration

of art. The

market,

which made the

autonomy

f

bourgeois

rt

possible

n the

first

lace,

permits

he

emergence

of a

culture

ndustry

hat

penetrates

nto

the

pores

of thework f

art

tself,

and

together

withthe

commodity

haracter

f

the workof

art,

forces he

viewer

nto

the

attitudinal

atterns

f

a

consumer.Adorno

developed

this

critiquefor hefirstime n1939,withazz as an example, nhisessay"The

Fetish

Character

n

Music and the

Retrogression

f

Listening"

Uber

den

Fetischcharacter

n derMusik unddie

Regression

es

Horens,

n

AGS

14,

pp.

14-50).

In

Adorno's

posthumous

Aesthetic

heory,

he

critique,

whichhad

been

applied

to

many

different

bjects

in

the

meantime,

s

generalized

nd

summarized

under the title "The

Degeneration

of

Art

Deprived

of

its

Character s

Art"

(Entkunstung

er

Kunst):

"There

s

nothing

eft fthe rt

work's

autonomyexcept

for ts

character

s a

commodity

etish,

nd the

customers

f

culture

re roused

to

indignation

hat

omeone

might

onsider

itsomethingmorethanthat . . . The work f art sdisqualifieds a tabula

rasa

for

subjective

projections.

The

poles

of

its

depravity

nd

deprivation

are its character

s

thing mong things

nd itscharacter s a

vehiclefor

he

psychology

f the viewer.What reified rtworksno

longer

ay,

the viewer

substitutes

with

that standardizedecho of

himself/herself

hich

he/she

hears

in

them. The culture

ndustry

ets this mechanism

n motion and

exploits

t"

(AGS

7,

p.

33).

The

concrete

historical

xperience

which

s

bound

up

in

this

ritique

f

the

culture

ndustry

s

a

disappointment

ot

so

much

with the

history

f

decay inart,religion, ndphilosophys with hehistorical arodiesof their

transcendence.

he

constellation f

bourgeois

ulture

n

the

classical

ge

of

its

development

was characterized

by,

if

an

oversimplification ay

be

22A.

Hauser,

The Social

History f

Art

London,

1951),

2

vols. J.

Habermas,

Strukturwandel

der

Offentlichkeit,

th ed.

(Neuwied,

1971),

pp.

46

ff.



14/31

42

Habermas

permitted,

he

dissolution ftraditional

mages

of the world:

First,

by

the

retreat

f

religion

nto

he

regions

f

private

elief; urther,

y

he

lliance

of

an empiricistnd rationalist hilosophywith newphysics; ndfinally, y

an art

whichbecame

autonomous nd has taken

up

positions

n

behalf

f

the

victims

f

bourgeois

rationalization. rt s the

refuge

or

satisfaction,

ven

if

only

virtual,

f those

wants thathave

become,

as

it

were,

llegal

n

the

material

process

of

life

n

bourgeois

ociety.

referhere to

the need

for

mimetic elationwith

nature,

xternal

nature s well as that

f

one's

body;

the need for

solidarity

n

living

with

others,

ndeed for he

happiness

f

a

communicative

xperience, xempt

from

mperatives

f

purposive-ration-

ality

Zweckrationalitiit)

nd

giving cope

to

imagination

s well

as

sponta-

neity.This constellation fbourgeois ulturewasbynomeansstable. Like

liberalism

tself,

t

asted,

so to

speak,

only

for

moment nd thenfell

prey

to

the

dialectic f

the

enlightenment

or

rather o

capitalism

s its

neluctable

vehicle).

Art's

oss

of

aura had

already

been

announced

byHegel

in

his

ectures

n

aesthetics."

In

conceiving

rt

and

religion

o

be

limited orms f

absolute

knowledge penetrated by

philosophy,

he

sets

in

motion a

dialectic

of

"Aufhebung"

sublation)

which

oon

transcends he

boundaries

of

Hegel-

ian

logic.

Hegel's

students

would

consumate

this

dialectic

n

a

secular

critique- first f religion nd then of philosophy only in order to

ultimately ring

he abolition

Aufhebung)

f

philsophy

nd its

realization

to

issue

in

the

transcendence

Aufhebung)

f

political ower:

this

marks he

hour of

birth f

the

Marxian

critique

f

ideology.

What was still

veiled in

Hegel's

construction s

now thrown

nto relief:

the

special

status

of art

amidstthe

forms

f

the absolute

spirit.

Art

maintains

special

status o the

extent

hat,

unlike

ubjective eligion

nd

scientistic

hilosophy,

t

does not

take

on

tasks

n

the

economic and

political

ystems.

Rather,

t

rounds

up

residual

needs that

can

findno

satisfaction

ithin

he

"system

f

needs,"

preciselywithin ivil ociety.Thus thesphereofartremained xempt rom

the

critique

f

deology

until ur

century.

When

at

last t too

fell

prey

o

the

critique

of

ideology,

the

ironic

bolition

Aufhebung)

f

religion

nd

philosophy

was

already

n

sight.

Today,

even

religion

s

no

longer

private

matter;

ut

n

the

atheism f

the

masses,

the

utopian

ontents

f

tradition

re

ost s

well.

Philosophy

as

been

divested

of its

metaphysical

laim;

but in

the

ruling

cientism,

he

constructions

efore

which a

wretched

reality

had to

justify

tself,

have

23"Art

n tsbeginningstilleaves ver omething ysterious,secret orebodingnd a

longing

..

But

f

he

perfect

ontent

as

been

perfectly

evealedn

rtistic

hapes,

hen

he

more

ar-seeingpirit ejects

his

bjective

anifestationnd

urns

ack nto

ts

nnerelf. his

is

the ase

in

our

own

ime.We

may

well

hope

that rtwill

lways

ise

higher

nd

come o

perfection,

ut

he

orm f

rthas

eased o

be

the

upreme

eed

f

he

pirit.

o

matter ow

excellent e

find

he

tatues f

he

Greek

ods,

o

matter ow

we ee

God

the

ather,

hrist,

and

Mary

o

estimably

nd

perfectly

ortrayed:

t s

no

help;

we

bow

the

kneeno

longer"

(Aesthetics,

ectures

n

Fine

Art,

G.W.F.

Hegel,

Oxford,

975],

ol.

,

p.

103).



15/31


43

decayed

as

well.

Meanwhile,

ven

an

"Aufhebung"

f

cience

s at hand.

t s

true

that

ts

appearance

of

autonomy

s

destroyed,

ut not

so much

for he

sake of guiding the systemof science by means of discourse as of

functionalizing

t

for ortuitous

naturwiichsig)

nterests.2"

Adorno's

critique

of

a false abolitionof art should

ikewisebe

seen

in

this

ontext.

True,

this

"Aufhebung"destroys

rt's

ura,

butwhen

t

eliminates he

organization

f

domination n

the

workof

art,

t

simultaneouslyiquidates

he

work

f art's

claim

to

truth.

Disillusionment

at the

false

abolition

of

something,

be

it

religion,

philosophy

or

art,

can induce

a reaction

in

someone that results

n

vacillation,

f

not

hesitation,

where

he

prefers

o mistrust

ltogether

he

process bywhichabsolutespirit ecome practical, ather hanto givehis

consent

o its

iquidation.

To

this s attached

n

option

for

he

soteric

escue

and

redemption

f the moments

f

truth.

his

distinguishes

dorno

from

Benjamin,

who

insists

hat

he truemoments f tradition re redeemed

for

the

messianicfuture ither

xoterically

r not at

all. Adorno

atheistic

ike

Benjamin

-

although

not

in

the same

way)

opposes

the false abolition

of

religion

with

restoration

f

utopian

ontents hat onstitute

ferment or

uncompromising

ritical

hought,

hough

his

pecifically

voids

taking

he

formof a universalized ecular

illumination.

dorno

(antipositivistic

ike

Benjamin) opposes the false abolitionofphilosophywith restorationf

critique's

transcendent

mpetus.

This

critique

s in a certain ense

autarkic,

though

t

specifically

voids

penetrating

nto

the

positive

ciences nd thus

becoming

universal

n

the

form

f

scientific

elf-reflection.

dorno

opposes

the false abolition

of art with the

hermetic

modernity

f

Kafka and

Sch6nberg,

though pecifically

voiding

mass

art,

whichmakes

auratically

encapsulized

experiencespublic.

After

having

read the

manuscript

f the

Work

of

Art

essay,

Adorno

objected

n

a

letter,

ated

18

March

1936,

"that

the

center

f

the

utonomous

work f rt

does

not tself

elong

on

the

ide

of

myth

.

. Dialecticalthough our ssaymaybe, it snot o in the ase ofthe

autonomous

work

of

art

itself;

t

disregards

he

elementary

xperience

which

becomes

more evident o

me

every

ay

n

my

wn

musical

xperience

-

that

precisely

the utmost

consistency

n the

technological

aw

of

autonomous

art

changes

this rt

and instead

of

rendering

t nto

a

taboo

or

fetish,

approximates

t

to the state of

freedom,

of

something

hat

can

consciously

be

produced

and

made"

(NLR, 65).

After

the

aura

disinte-

grates, only

the formalistic

ork

of

art,

inaccessible

to

the

masses,

can

withstand he

forces

assimilating

t

to

the market-determined

ants and

attitudes f the consumer.

Adorno

pursues

strategy

f

hibernation,

hose obvious

weakness ies

in

its

defensive

character.

nterestingly

nough,

Adorno's thesis can

be

proven

with

xamples

from

iteraturend

music,

nly

s

long

s

they

emain

24This

thesis

s

represented

y

J.

Behrmann,

G.

B6hme,

W. van den

Daele,

W.

Krohn,

Alternativen

n

der

Wissenschaft

manuscript).



16/31

44

Habermas

dependent

on

reproduction

echnics hat

prescribe

solated

reading

and

contemplative

istening,

.e.,

a mode of

reception

hat eads down

the

royal

road to bourgeois ndividuation. noticeabledevelopment fartswith

collective mode of

reception,

however,

uch

as

architecture,

heater

nd

painting,

s well as utilitarian

opular

literature

Gebrauchsliteratur)

nd

music with heir

dependence

on

the electronic

media,

points

beyond

mere

culture

industry

nd

does

not

a

fortiori

efute

Benjamin's hope

for a

universalized ecular llumination.

Admittedly,

art's

development away

from ritual retains a

double

meaning

for

Benjamin

as

well.

It is as if

Benjamin

feared

n

elimination

f

myth

without

n

ensuing

iberation;

s if

myth

would

have

to

finally

dmit

defeat,and yetstillbe able to refrain rom ransposingtscontents ntoa

tradition,

o that t

might riumph

ven

n

defeat.Now that

myth

as donned

the

vestments f

progress, mages

which radition lone can

recoverfrom

the nner ore of

myth

hreaten o come to

naught

nd

be lost o

redemptive

criticism

orever. he

myth

whose haunt s

in

modernity

xpresses

tself n

positivism's

elief

n

progress;

t

s

the

enemy

gainst

whom

Benjamin

set

the

whole

pathos

of

redemption.

ar

from

eing guarantor

f

liberation,

the

development

way

from

ritual

ominously

orebodes

specific

oss in

experience.

IV

Benjamin's

attitude owards

he loss of

aura was

always

ambivalent.'5

Since the historical

xperience

f

a

past

Jetztzeit

eeds to

be

recharged,

nd

because this

experience

s

locked within

he aura of a

work

of

art,

the

undialectical

isintegration

fthe

ura

would

mean he ossof

this

xperience.

Already

at

the

time when

Benjamin,

as a

student,

till

believed he could

sketch he

"Program

f

Coming

Philosophy,"

he

concept

f

n

unmutilated

experience

tood

at

the center f

his

considerations.

t that ime

Benjamin

directed his

polemicagainst

an

"experience

reduced as

it

were

to

degreezero, to the minimum f

significance,"

.e.,

against

the

experience

of

physicalobjects

underlying

he

paradigmatic

rientation

f

Kant's

attempt

to

analyze

the

conditions f

possible xperience G.S.

II,

159).

In

opposition

to this

Benjamin

defends

he

more

complex

ypes

f

experience

ommon

o

primitive

peoples

and

madmen,

seers

and

artists.

He still had

hopes

of

recovering

rom

metaphysics

systematic

ontinuum

f

experience.

Later

he

imputed

his

ask to

the

critique

f

art;

this

ritique

hould

ranspose

he

beautiful

nto

he

medium f

truth,

herein truth s

not n

unveiling,

hich

annihilates

the

mystery,

ut

a

revelation nd

a

manifestation

hatdoes it

justice" (0., 31) The conceptofaura

ultimately

akes the

place

ofbeautiful

appearance

as the

necessary

eil.

By

disintegrating,

ura reveals he

mystery

of the

complex

experience:

"Experience

of the

aura thus

rests on

the

25

"For

the

ast

time

he

ura emanatesfrom he

earlyphotographs

n

the

fleetingxpression

of a

human

face. This

is

what

constitutes

heir

melancholy,

ncomparable eauty"

I.,

226).



17/31


5

transposition

f a

response

ommon

n

human

relationships

o

therelation-

ship

between the

inanimate r

natural

object

and the

human

being.

The

personwelookat,orwhofeelshe/shesbeingooked t, ooks t us nturn. o

perceive

the aura of

an

object

we look

at

meansto invest

twith

he

capacity

to look

at

us

in

return"

I.,

188).

The

appearance

(Erscheinung)

of

the

aura

can occur

only

in the

intersubjective

relation of the

ego

to its

counterpart,

he alter

ego.

Whenevernature s thus invested"

o that t ooks at us

n

return,

he

object

is

transformed

nto

counterpart.

niversal

nimism f nature

s the

ign

f

magical mages

of

the

world;

herethere

s as

yet

no

split

between

he

phere

of

the

objectivated

form,

which

we control

manipulatively,

nd the

intersubjectiveealm, nwhichwecommunicativelyncounterne another.

Instead,

the

world

is

organized according

to

analogies

and

parallelism;

totemistic

lassifications

rovide

an

example

of

this.

Synesthetic

ssocia-

tions are

the

subjective

remainder f

the

perception

f

such

correspon-

dences.2"

From

the

appearance

of

the aura

Benjamin

develops

the

emphatic

concept

of

an

experience

which

needs to be

critically

reserved

nd made

relevant

f

hemessianic

romise

f

happiness

s everto be

fulfilled;

n

other

instances, however,

he treatsthe

loss of aura

affirmatively.

his

double

meaningalso expressesitself n Benjamin's emphasison precisely hose

achievements

f autonomous

rtthat ikewise

distinguish

he art

work

hat

has

developed

away

from

itual.

urrealist

rt,

whose

representatives

nce

again

ado

Date post:	02-Jun-2018
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Habermas Sobre Benjamin

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