Walter Benjamin "Theses on the Philosophy of History"

                  There is a famous phrase which states that those who do not know their history do not have a future. When we speak of history, this and other such phrases are ones that have worried me in my few years of life, not because I was unable to comprehend it but simply because it’s difficult to explain or define something with which you have not been a part of from its beginning. Thus scientists and other such minds are left to simply speculate and theorize but in so doing they leave room for judgment. In the first section of Walter Benjamin’s work he attempts to tackle this same topic and essentially disproves every notion which I had previously existed in my mind. In his work he purports a dichotomy between the past and present: a significant separation in fact. In the present our happiness is defined by one of the seven deadly sins known as envy. Essentially envy suggests that there are those who are better than ourselves and thus in attempting to attain of something greater than our current state we are simply attempting to redeem ourselves. Benjamin makes a tie with this idea and the relation between the past and the present in relation to historical material. In his eyes history is not defined by its culture or its mere interaction but by the materials and economic transactions which existed. This develops the idea that if the present really does and can lay claim to the past it must also entail the same definitions and limitations.  In which case there is an explanation for capitalism which it seems underlies this entire thesis. 

walter benjamin

1.       What is the difference between cult value and exhibition value in art? How does Benjamin see these values in relation to politics?

Cult value is the way in which an image is interpreted, meaning it can be viewed differently by different people. Exhibition value is how the painting actually come across to the eye itself.
2. What is the difference between Erfahrung and Erlebnisse? How does it relate to art?

–erfahrung is refered to as intergrated experience while erlebnisse refers to isolated experienced. Erfahrung is looking at art from a point of view of someone who has a background about the image. While erlebnisse (isolated experience) is an individual looking at something without having any back ground information about it.
3. Explain some of the positive and negative effects of the destruction of the "aura" in art.

A positive affect of “aura” is it allows professionals to alter a certain image to represent what it is that they are trying to convey to the audience. A negative aspect of this as Benjamin state it that, interference with the aura of an image takes away the initial felling or experience that one is suppose to get from viewing it.
4. How would you judge or evaluate the impact of forms of mass culture like film in contemporary life? Have they changed human perception? Are they are important part of creating political consciousness in the public?

mass culture impacts life in a major way because it translate reality differently. Mass culture tend to give the people what they want to see, in other words people are often shield away from the actual tragedies going on in life, instead the media portrays things differently to the people, making it seem as though life situations are not actual. 

ON PAIN

1.How would you judge Jünger's thesis that pain is the central experience of life?

i dont quite agree but i sort of understand what he is talking about, my understanding is that no matter what we do and how different we live our lives today pain is like a revolving door that is bound to coming around in ones life sooners or later.

2. What does "post-liberal" refer to and how does it relate to the idea of progress?

Junger refers the phrase post- liberal to life after liberalism or asn said in the reading to be a time when government believed that as technical and material development increased that social problems whould become more manageable. it relates to progress in the sense that "progress is the foundation of liberaism"meaning progress is the goal hoped to achive with liberaism. 

3. Why is photography the "evil eye" according to Jünger?

phoyography is the evil eye because it tells us the truth, it grasps things we miss and allow us to see certaing things in different ways

 

4. What is the relationship between specialized education and the "worker type."

5. How does submission to totalitarian authorities protect an individual from pain?

 

 

"The profussion of violetn imagery, and the fast pace and constant danger of modern life nforcesn people to become more tolerant of pain and death."

i chose this quote from this weeks reading because i agree with what it means. i think this quote means that due to the way life is as we know it has made us more accustom to things that happen throughtout the course of life. for example almost everyday on the news there is a dead person or another, when most people turn on the TV they are either expecting to hear simmilar strories or they arent much moved by the news of sad story simply because they have become use to hearing such things. this quote says that we take life the way we live.

Nazi in Germany

1. What were some of the major reasons that led to the rise of Nazi Germany?
one of the major reasons of the Nazi rise to power was the crash of the stock market, this  left the country so devastated and vulnerable  that when Hitler proposed him self as the one to bring the country out of the bad state that it was, people saw reason with the things he was saying.
2. How did Nazis resolve conflicts between workers and owners and why was this an attractive model for business executives?
the Nazis resolved the conflicts between workers and owners by distracting them with a more "attractive" matter. instead of being against each other he called for them to unify and come against the Jews claiming the they were responsible for both communism and capitalism.
3. What is the significance of the phrase "Arbeit Macht Frei?"
mu understanding of this phrase is that those who where kept in concentration camps were given some type  of freedom only if they worked for it, for little or no pay. Hitler only used this to increase his power because he had his captives work for companies in exchange for their support of him, verbally, financially of materially.
4. What is state capitalism and how does it relate to Nazi Germany?
state capitalism is when businesses operate in the interest of the state to increase national power. the nazis portrayed themselves as having the interest of the businesses at heart by having slaves work for little or no pay, which created big profit, but in return these businesses would supply them with means of transportation, uniform etc. But Hitlers only interest was to broaden his horizon of power.
5. How would you evaluate the psychological causes of anti-semitism in the context of German society?
Germany was in a state of great vulnerability in which Hitler used to his advantage to manipulate his way to power. he proposed him self as being for the people(the "real Germans) and claiming to have ideas that would put Germany as a whole back on top (restore Germany's greatness). the people of Germany weren't really aware of how catastrophic it would be to allow Hitler gain so much power until he was unstoppable.


"Despite the obvious benefits and advantages given to major industries during the Nazi era, not all are convinced that the Nazi regime was an outgrowth of monopoly capitalism. For one this kind of analysis still retains the Marxist tendency to put the economic realm above everything else. Some like economist Fredrick Pollock described the Nazi regime as a form of “state capitalism” where  he says, “the power motive takes precedence over the profit motive”

i chose this part of the reading because it ties last weeks reading very well it helped me to better understand Weber s point of objective over self-intoxication
           Although  Hitlers  beliefs were inhumane and unethical one most give credit to him that he did what most people who truly have the interest of the people at heart weren't able to do. He unified people to support his views, he created and army, and he found ways to fund his operations. despite the fact that i do not agree with anything Hitler did, i must acknowledge how clever he was to turn Germany against its self under his control for years.i believe Hitler depicts what Weber said to be objective over self intoxication. Hitlers hunger for power contributed to how he was able to accomplish all he did. he live for his power and not off his power, he did not become self intoxicated with his own desires, rather he was he self intoxication was gaining power..

Max Weber politics as a vocation

Vanity is a very widespread quality and perhaps nobody is entirely free from it. In academic and scholarly circles, vanity is a sort of occupational disease, but precisely with the scholar, vanity--however disagreeably it may express itself--is relatively harmless; in the sense that as a rule it does not disturb scientific enterprise. With the politician the case is quite different. He works with the striving for power as an unavoidable means. Therefore, 'power instinct,' as is usually said, belongs indeed to his normal qualities. The sin against the lofty spirit of his vocation, however, begins where this striving for power ceases to be objective and becomes purely personal self-intoxication, instead of exclusively entering the service of 'the cause.' For ultimately there are only two kinds of deadly sins in the field of politics: lack of objectivity and--often but not always identical with it--irresponsibility. Vanity, the need personally to stand in the foreground as clearly as possible, strongly tempts the politician to commit one or both of these sins. This is more truly the case as the demagogue is compelled to count upon 'effect.' He therefore is constantly in danger of becoming an actor as well as taking lightly the responsibility for the outcome of his actions and of being concerned merely with the 'impression' he makes. His lack of objectivity tempts him to strive for the glamorous semblance of power rather than for actual power. His irresponsibility, however, suggests that he enjoy power merely for power's sake without a substantive purpose. Although, or rather just because, power is the unavoidable means, and striving for power is one of the driving forces of all politics, there is no more harmful distortion of political force than the parvenu-like braggart with power, and the vain self-reflection in the feeling of power, and in general every worship of power per se. The mere 'power politician' may get strong effects, but actually his work leads nowhere and is senseless. (Among us, too, an ardently promoted cult seeks to glorify him.) In this, the critics of 'power politics' are absolutely right. From the sudden inner collapse of typical representatives of this mentality, we can see what inner weakness and impotence hides behind this boastful but entirely empty gesture. It is a product of a shoddy and superficially blase attitude towards the meaning of human conduct; and it has no relation whatsoever to the knowledge of tragedy with which all action, but especially political action, is truly interwoven.

I would have chosen the portions of this paragraph that I agree with but it wouldn’t make sense to the reader so I decided to post the entire thing.

I chose this paragraph not only because I was able to understand it thoroughly but because I agree with the point Max Weber makes here. his point about vanity was dead on, take the former prime minister of Italy  for example Silvio Berlusconi he allowed his personal self-intoxication get in the way of him performing his Job which led him down a path of destruction the eventually led to his impeachment. In this paragraph Weber explains that if anyone in any kind of position of power allows their needs or wants to overpower their ability to perform their job accordingly then that individual strives for personal self-intoxication instead of being objective towards his job. Weber explains this where he says that politicians who lack objectivity becomes irresponsible.

weimar republic

1)an advantage of proportional representation would be that the whole country would, have the same laws, no one state would have a different law or have an advantage over another state, all the states would be on equal playing field.

A disadvantage of proportional representation would be that if every state are getting the same form of representation, then their personal needs would not be attended to, meaning different kinds of people live in different states they all cannot be treated the same way. Each country has its special needs, but if they are all treated the same those needs are not attended to.

3)Hyper inflation is high level of dept and the government trying to pay its way out without raising taxes, the production of more money only worsen the problem

4) Compared to the united states constitution I feel as though the Weimar constitution definitely give more leeway to run the country. For one the length of term for a president is almost double that of present day America. it is similar to that of the united states in the sense that it grants educating to the children.

The blue angel

Is this film nihilistic or does it reinforce traditional notions of morality?

I think this film very much reinforce traditional notion of morality because it shows actual life situation, if one makes wrongful decisions they would have to face later repercussion and that what Rath faced in the movie.

For this week's reflection paper, like last week, pick a scene from the film and describe the action in the scene; interpret the meaning of this scene; and then explain why you chose it.

         The scene I choose from the movie is the scene where Rath walks into his classroom and finds the pictures of him and Lola drawn on the board. This is where Rath begin to lose all the respect he had as a professor, giving that at that time education was such a major thing to accomplish, let alone becoming a professor. Although he was very strict, he was well respected because of his education level. This scene signified how much respect he lost from being involved with lola. Normally when he walks into class his students stand up to welcome him and sit down when he tells them to. But on this day the students begin to make a mockery of him and he then lost total control of his class. I think this scene signifies how one can lose their position in life due to the choice they make. I chose this scene because I believe this is where he starts to lose control over his entire life. His students used to be so fearful of him, but here he lost control over them and wasn’t able to regain control after this scene.

Please also complete the following questions:
1. How would you compare Rath/Lola to Siddhartha/Kamala?

In comparison of Rath/Lola to Siddhartha/Kamala Lola and Kamala both symbolize a turning point in each of their lives where they realize their inner personal self struggles, but kamala helped Siddhartha to evolve in the sense where she helped him in the journey to find who he is while Lola led Rath down the road of his down fall.
2. Is Lola an emancipated woman or "totally impassive?"

I think Lola is totally impassive because she didn’t stand up for herself the entire movie. She seems to just do whatever it is to keep making money. Even when Rath proposed to her and she took it as a joke she still agreed to marry him. she really didn’t stand up for herself throughout the whole movie, in my opinion she is very impassive
3. What is the significance of the clown?

In reference to when Rath was dressed as a clown, I think it was to make a mockery of him, it really showed how far he fell from being a professor to having a job as a clown.
4. How is chaos thematically represented in the film?

Chaos is represented in the film starting from when he first meets Lola and become obsessed with her. Rath then loses his authoritative role as a professor which was the start of his down fall. He then marries her, realizing that he is unable to deal with her wayward way of living he becomes very aggressive.
5. How would you interpret the overall meaning of the film?

I feel as though the moral of the movie was to show how one is not able to control their desires it can lead them down a destructive road. Rath should have been able to control himself enough to understand that getting involved with Lola was only going to bring destruction to him. He is a professor and she is a dancer for a living. This film interprets how quick one can fall down the social ladder and how tough it is to regain their position due to making a wrong decision.
6. Why did I compare Rath to the Haussmann painting/montage? Would you suggest a better comparison?

I think the painting suits the film well because it references Rath over seriousness with his career.  He was obsessed with punctuality, so the clock on the head of the painting relates to how being on time is everything, it takes over the head of the painting which draws the viewers attention directly to it.