Ep. 237: Walter Benjamin Analyzes Violence (Part Two)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

• Episode: Ep. 237: Walter Benjamin Analyzes Violence (Part Two)
• Website: The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
• Feed URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ThePartiallyExaminedLife
• Duration: 00:47:02
• Published: 2020-03-09 13:53

Continuing on Benjamin's "Critique of Violence" (1921).

Mark, Wes, and Seth keep trying to figure out this difficult essay. Is Benjamin really advocating a workers' revolution to end the state, or just reflecting on a hypothetical to explore the limits of the concept of violence?

According to Judith Butler's interpretation of the essay, the takeaway is the alternative to motivation through force, i.e. speech, which Benjamin (in other essays) gives some religious significance, but the way he actually concludes the essay is in a discussion of "divine violence" as somehow transcending means-end analysis and the corruption inherent in violence.

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End song: "Jericho" from hackedepiciotto, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #116.

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