Walter Benjamin was an intriguing and unorthodox philosopher who attempted to reconcile Qabbalistic mysticism with Marxistic philosophy. He challenged the traditional view of history, arguing that the predominant concept of linear progression resulted in a "triumphal procession in which the present rulers step over those who are lying prostrate." He famously urged historians to "brush history against the grain". In this essay I discuss his concepts which encourage us to rethink history and it's relevance to us today.
It is a fairly long read so I have broken it down into shorter digestible chunks.
"You have reckoned that history ought to judge the past and to instruct the contemporary world as to the future. The present attempt does not yield to that high office. It will merely tell how it really was."
Leopold von Ranke
" Historicism gives the “ eternal” image of the past; historical materialism supplies a unique experience with the past. The historical materialist leaves it to others to be drained by the whore called “Once upon a time” in historicism’s bordello. He remains in control of his powers, man enough to blast open the continuum of history." Walter Benjamin (1968;p262)
Von Ranke’s view of history expressed in the above quotation encapsulates the view of history, born in the Enlightenment, that dominated Western thinking until well into the Twentieth Century. This view was tied to the concept of progressive scientism, which valued rational, objective, empirical criteria above all else. Like many successful theories it was considered radically critical in it’s time. Historians had come to rely on a number of canonical texts, and what von Ranke urged was a return to primary original sources, and from these to reconstruct the true facts of history. This historicist approach assumes that historians have no preconceived notions of their own , or are at least able to suppress these, and that the facts can speak for themselves, unmediated by the voice of the historian. Benjamin was by no means the first to criticize this approach to history, but his voluminous, esoteric critique is one that speaks powerfully to the (post)modern world. The language he uses in the above quote to condemn historicism is particularly scathing. He believed that the Enlightenment view of historical progression was used to justify the status quo and led to “a triumphal procession in which the present rulers step over those who are lying prostrate” (Benjamin; ;p256)
Benjamin addressed not only history but an impressively wide range of subjects which continue to perplex contemporary thinkers. He embarked on the ambitious project of trying to overcome the dualistic thinking which had plagued modern philosophy. Benjamin particularly strove to reconcile two strands of thought which were seen as irreconcilable- the mystical and the material. In his younger days he was attracted to Jewish mysticism, in particular the Qabbalah. Later in life he discovered Marxism. Unlike many other converts, however, he never abandoned his earlier mysticism, but rather sought to reconcile the two, embarking on a quest, in the words of Jay, to “displace his originally metaphysical and theological concepts of experience into an entirely materialist register” (Jay p 341).This is what makes Benjamin’s philosophy unique, and particularly attractive in an age where mysticism is seen as having no place in serious philosophy. The increasing secularization and materialism of twentieth century thought has led to a loss of spirituality- resulting in a growth of fundamental religion which denies any critical thought and obversely critical thought which denies any spirituality. Benjamin attempted to heal this rift by taking on the bold task of expressing a new holism that takes account of the dialectic. As a mystic he believed that at critical moments of illumination, boundaries break down and opposites come together in new constellations. As a materialist he believed these moments were powerful tools for political transformation.
"Ideas are to objects what constellations are to stars."- Walter Benjamin (quoted in gilloch:p70)
Benjamin’s pantheistic view of the world sees objects as part of greater whole. Objects in this schema are alive in a very real way and embody the material and cultural forces that created them. Thus they can also speak to us- and they do so through allegory. Everything has a story to tell. “To observe a thing”, he wrote “means only to arouse it to self-recognition…through the heightening of one’s own consciousness, through magical observation, one might say, getting nearer to the thing and finally drawing it into oneself.”( Benjamin quoted in Jay; 324.) In consumerist society however this heightened consciousness is lacking. Instead of manufactured objects speaking to people of the exploitative, dehumanising labour practices that create them a new myth is created, which glorifies the object as commodity. Design, display, advertising conspire to create an object of desire, a “wishimage” which promises the consumer the gratification of all their genuine needs and desires thwarted under capitalism- material abundance, freedom from the drudgery of labour, better lives for all. Capitalism is built on the promise of the fulfillment of these dreams. The commodity becomes an object of worship in the cult of fetishism. Luxurious arcades and department stores which are built to house these objects become “dreamhouses of the collective”- powerful projections of not only individual but collective desire. (Benjamin here comes close to suggesting an entity similar to Jung’s collective unconscious).Mass production, a result of increasing industrialization and mechanization of the labour process, promises an almost magical creation of an endless array of commodities, but in truth leads to mass unemployment and a corresponding proliferation of prostitution and the commodification of the human body itself.
"The world dominated by it’s phantasmagorias- this, to make use of Baudelaire’s term, is modernity." –Walter Benjamin (quoted in Baucom:p80)
In spite of the obvious negative aspects of this process - ideological mystification, economic exploitation, capitalist deception – Benjamin (unlike many of his contemporaries who saw mass culture as a form of false consciousness ) saw its potentially progressive aspects. He believed that the wishimage was a repository of powerful utopian ideals and sought to “take mass culture seriously not merely as the source of the phantasmagoria of false consciousness, but as the source of collective energy to overcome it” (Buck- Morss quoted in Schwartz 1734). This involved evoking a higher consciousness -of listening to the voices of objects in new ways. He saw Capitalism as a “ phenomena with which a new dream filled sleep came over Europe, and through it ,a reactivation of mythical forces.” ( Benjamin quoted in Schwartz 1728). In other words what he called the “ Phantasmagoria” of capitalism lulled the people of Europe into sleep, but that the dreams that filled this sleep awoke powerful, unconscious mythological forces which could be used to waken people from this sleep. Referring to the new methodology inherent in his work he wrote: “A work of history such as this was vital in order to slay capitalism by waking the slumbering collective from it’s nineteenth century dream.”(ibid;1728) Differing from orthodox Marxists who believed that the contradictions within capitalism will cause its natural, inevitable downfall he argued: “capitalism will not die a natural death,”(ibid 1728). Instead it requires an active intervention at the level of the collective unconscious to bring about its demise . History thus becomes for Benjamin becomes a “technique of awakening” (ibid 1728), of accessing “the unconscious world of remembrance” (Ibid 1728) expressed in the collective dream.
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