Archives and Feelings

Paraphrasing Benjamin

Rob Welch

September 18, 2013

¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 Rob Welch

¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 Dr. A. Lothian

¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 Engl 985

¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0 17 Sep 2013

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Angels and Marxists: Highlighting Benjamin on History

¶ 7 Leave a comment on paragraph 7 0 I           Historical Materialism “enlists the services of theology,” and wins every time (253).  Note the quotes on “historical materialism.”  It is the name we “call” it.  Benjamin does not attack historical materialism as such, but rather the identifying category as it has come to be used.

¶ 8 Leave a comment on paragraph 8 0 II         As individuals, the degree of happiness we experience at any moment is not tied to future expectations, but rather to our perception of how things have gone before, up to this time.  Positive moments from the past effect our now.  This principle applies collectively to all of our pasts, all past.  We have the potential to bring that past to life in our awareness.

¶ 9 Leave a comment on paragraph 9 0 III        Moments of experience are not in a natural hierarchy or progression.  Any many be taken as the equivalent of any other.  Any one realized (redeemed) becomes of moment because it has been realized.

¶ 10 Leave a comment on paragraph 10 0 IV        Materiality is the basis for the physical life of man, and, therefore, the precondition for having a spiritual life.  The spiritual life, so long as it is maintained by materiality, however, has a form of expression which can be largely independent of materiality.  “Courage, humor, cunning and fortitude” offer resistance to the materiality whose definitions are skewed by class dominance (255).

¶ 11 Leave a comment on paragraph 11 0 V         “The true picture of the past flits by” (255).  Our knowledge of the past is linked to the “picture,” the “image” not the narrative of events.  When we fail to perceive our interests in the narrative we expect, we will ignore that segment of the past and it may fade away forever.

¶ 12 Leave a comment on paragraph 12 0 VI        A danger exists: “that of becoming a tool of the ruling classes” (255).  The danger applies to the past and to the present.  The method for resisting this domination is to comprehend the situation that was and the situation that is.  The benefit is that you will understand that the dominance of the current oppressors is not the result of a logical process (progress).  We understand the now as a static construct, and by recognizing each moment of the past as its own “now,” we end the illusion of the march of progress.  Vindicating those oppressed in the past is a vindication of ourselves.

¶ 13 Leave a comment on paragraph 13 0 VII      The process of bringing the past to life (the job of the historian) requires empathy.  It also requires the recognition that a cultural hegemony has always been in place which favors the interpretation of the past in sympathy with those who have ruled.  This cannot exclude even the elements of society which are artistically relevant; all have been swayed by this contact.  The process of “civilization” automatically means that what is “barbaric” has been displaced, conquered.  The “barbaric” cannot be discounted as part of the image of the past.  The historian must look at civilized achievement and recall it is in opposition to, oppressive of another way of looking at human experience.

¶ 14 Leave a comment on paragraph 14 0 VIII     Redeeming the oppressed in the past informs us that we are always in danger.  This has two benefits.  It encourages us to action, in our own defense, to make real, revolutionary changes.  It also validates such action, since no march of progress underlies the arbitrary oppression we face (the victors only seem to have history on their side).

¶ 15 Leave a comment on paragraph 15 0 IX        The angel figure has divine perception.  He sees event piled on event; no chain of cause and effect leading from past to present.  The angel has divine intention. He would like to fix what is broken, but is compelled away from the past into the future.  The angel’s perception is unidirectional.  He moves into the future, but is fixed on the past.  The metaphor reiterates the position of humanity who perceives “now” through what has gone on before, but can never really know what happens next.  Note, the storm that drives him is “called” progress.

¶ 16 Leave a comment on paragraph 16 0 X         The current state of politics results from linear thinking that ascribes to the notions of progress.  Opponents of the oppressors have yielded because it seems logical.  The method of perceiving the past and the present that historical materialism should teach offers a pattern of resistance when yielding to logic means resigning hope for resistance.

¶ 17 Leave a comment on paragraph 17 0 XI        The illusion of progress has been sold to the working class as a substitute for action, revolution.  A conflation exists between the exploitation of natural resources and the exploitation of labor (urbanization of civilization is part of progress towards greatness as a people and it is those people that are building that progress; they get the sense of accomplishment and no further benefit).

¶ 18 Leave a comment on paragraph 18 0 XII      The “oppressed class itself is the depository of historical knowledge” (260).  This is confirmed by the fact that the rulers turn the eyes of the oppressed from the past to a hopeful future, where they concentrate on happy grandchildren instead of remembering the sufferings of their parents in the name of change.  Self-knowledge would breed self-knowledge and the potential for action.

¶ 19 Leave a comment on paragraph 19 0 XIII     The linear concept of progress is a fallacy.  The requisite that underlies it is a past that is empty except for the linked events that lead from point to point showing progress.  Once it is recognized that the past is not made up of “homogenous, empty time,” the concept of progress is shown to be ludicrous (261).

¶ 20 Leave a comment on paragraph 20 0 XIV     For those who experienced a moment of the past, it was now.  For we who experience the past, the only true way to do so is to consider it in that manner, as an extension of now.  Since our (or any) now is built upon what we understand about what went on before, it is critical to be dynamically involved in that past.  It is also critical to remember that our understanding of the now has been influenced by the hegemonies of those who have controlled the flow of information.

¶ 21 Leave a comment on paragraph 21 0 XV      Revolutionaries think in terms of changing history, of altering the flow through time.  On the day of action, linear time (clock time) ceases to be significant.  Calendar time takes precedence, in that it offers a cyclical aspect for potential resurrection of the past.

¶ 22 Leave a comment on paragraph 22 0 XVI     Now is a static image which the historical materialist uses to overlay an image of the past, but the interpretation of this overlay is unique to each individual.  The historicist counters by offering a view of the past which is universal, one size fits all.  The intellectual, empathic action of the historical materialist in providing real insight is essential to fueling real revolutionary action.

¶ 23 Leave a comment on paragraph 23 0 XVII   The universality of historicist history lends itself only to description.  It is detail stacked on detail.  The material historicist, however, seizes on the image of the past, excising a chunk of lived experience, and interrogates the interactions of events as they seem to “crystalize” in view.  The focus on the material experience of that time will always lead to questions about class relations which will reflect on the (probably…potentially) forgotten oppressed.  Redeeming their plight by exposure sets the stage for redeeming our own plight by action.

¶ 24 Leave a comment on paragraph 24 0 XVIII  A reflection on the history of humanity as opposed to any histories of “civilization” adds perspective which makes ludicrous the concept of an eternal march to progress.  By stating in two sentences a metaphor which encompasses all of the existence of anything which might be human, it is demonstrated with what ease we can seize upon time and manipulate it within our minds as the material historicist must.

¶ 25 Leave a comment on paragraph 25 0 A         The linear approach to history, is based on the idea of cause and effect.  “No fact that is a cause is for that reason historical” (263).  Anyone coming to terms with that fact must see that the method of picturing the now and using it as a measuring stick to compare the past is natural, constructive, and fulfilling.

¶ 26 Leave a comment on paragraph 26 0 B         Those who foretell the future do not approach that concept as though it was an empty space waiting to be filled with causes and effects.  Assuming such an ability to exist, an expectation of continuity would suggest we would not regard the past that way either.  While we are cut off from the future, it does not mean our actions are meaningless or hopeless.  The great change may come at any time.

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¶ 28 Leave a comment on paragraph 28 0 Beiner, Ronald. “Walter Benjamin’s Philosophy of History.” Political Theory 12.3 (1984): 423-34. Jstor. Web. 16 Sep. 2013.

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¶ 30 Leave a comment on paragraph 30 0 Benjamin, Walter. “Theses on the Philosophy of History.”  Illuminations. Ed. Hannah Arendt. Trans. Harry Zohn. New York: Schocken, 1968. Print. 253-264.

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¶ 32 Leave a comment on paragraph 32 0 Felman, Shoshana. “Benjamin’s Silence.” Critical Inquiry 25.2 (1999): 201-34. Jstor. Web. 16 Sep. 2013.

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