“Leben und Gewalt” or “Gewalt und Leben” A Commentary on Paragraph 18 of Walter Benjamin’s “Toward the Critique of Violence”
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Show full item recordAbstract
In paragraph
18 of “Toward the Critique of Violence,” the terms life, living,
and violence,
and
the relations
among them, complicate
Walter Benjamin’s
justification
of divine
violence—
his text’s
main discovery.
This article
seeks to reconstruct
Benjamin’s
uses of life and living
in earlier
texts and to
consider
the potential
influence
of various
authors
he was reading
at the time (Heinrich Rickert, Erich
Unger, Kurt Hiller, Gershom Scholem). Benjamin’s
distinction
between
life and living
is crucial
for his critique
of pacifism
and for his shift in perspective:
he moves the focus
from the victim
to the one committing
murder,
but whose violent
act just might bring justice.
Keywords:
Walter Benjamin / critique of violence / pacifismSource:
Critical Times: Interventions in Global Critical Theory, 2019, 2, 2, 320-329Publisher:
- International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs : Duke University Press
Funding / projects:
- Studying climate change and its influence on environment: impacts, adaptation and mitigation (RS-43007)
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IFDTTY - JOUR AU - Bojanić, Petar PY - 2019 UR - http://rifdt.instifdt.bg.ac.rs/123456789/2043 AB - In paragraph 18 of “Toward the Critique of Violence,” the terms life, living, and violence, and the relations among them, complicate Walter Benjamin’s justification of divine violence— his text’s main discovery. This article seeks to reconstruct Benjamin’s uses of life and living in earlier texts and to consider the potential influence of various authors he was reading at the time (Heinrich Rickert, Erich Unger, Kurt Hiller, Gershom Scholem). Benjamin’s distinction between life and living is crucial for his critique of pacifism and for his shift in perspective: he moves the focus from the victim to the one committing murder, but whose violent act just might bring justice. PB - International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs : Duke University Press T2 - Critical Times: Interventions in Global Critical Theory T1 - “Leben und Gewalt” or “Gewalt und Leben” A Commentary on Paragraph 18 of Walter Benjamin’s “Toward the Critique of Violence” IS - 2 VL - 2 SP - 320 EP - 329 DO - 10.1215/26410478-7708379 ER -
@article{ author = "Bojanić, Petar", year = "2019", abstract = "In paragraph 18 of “Toward the Critique of Violence,” the terms life, living, and violence, and the relations among them, complicate Walter Benjamin’s justification of divine violence— his text’s main discovery. This article seeks to reconstruct Benjamin’s uses of life and living in earlier texts and to consider the potential influence of various authors he was reading at the time (Heinrich Rickert, Erich Unger, Kurt Hiller, Gershom Scholem). Benjamin’s distinction between life and living is crucial for his critique of pacifism and for his shift in perspective: he moves the focus from the victim to the one committing murder, but whose violent act just might bring justice.", publisher = "International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs : Duke University Press", journal = "Critical Times: Interventions in Global Critical Theory", title = "“Leben und Gewalt” or “Gewalt und Leben” A Commentary on Paragraph 18 of Walter Benjamin’s “Toward the Critique of Violence”", number = "2", volume = "2", pages = "320-329", doi = "10.1215/26410478-7708379" }
Bojanić, P.. (2019). “Leben und Gewalt” or “Gewalt und Leben” A Commentary on Paragraph 18 of Walter Benjamin’s “Toward the Critique of Violence”. in Critical Times: Interventions in Global Critical Theory International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs : Duke University Press., 2(2), 320-329. https://doi.org/10.1215/26410478-7708379
Bojanić P. “Leben und Gewalt” or “Gewalt und Leben” A Commentary on Paragraph 18 of Walter Benjamin’s “Toward the Critique of Violence”. in Critical Times: Interventions in Global Critical Theory. 2019;2(2):320-329. doi:10.1215/26410478-7708379 .
Bojanić, Petar, "“Leben und Gewalt” or “Gewalt und Leben” A Commentary on Paragraph 18 of Walter Benjamin’s “Toward the Critique of Violence”" in Critical Times: Interventions in Global Critical Theory, 2, no. 2 (2019):320-329, https://doi.org/10.1215/26410478-7708379 . .