-
7/31/2019 Benjamin - The Theory of Criticism
1/3
The Theory of Criticism
The unity of philosophy-its system-is, as an answer, of a higher
orderthan the infinite number of finite questions that can be
posed.1 It is of ahigher kind and a higher order than that to which
the quintessence of allthese questions can lay claim, because a
unity of the answer cannot beobtained through any questioning. The
unity of philosophy therefore be-longs to a higher order than any
single philosophical question or problemcan claim.-If there were
questions that nevertheless called for a unifiedanswer, their
relation to philosophy would be fundamentally different fromthat of
philosophical problems generally. In responses to such
problems,there is a constant tendency to ask further questions-a
tendency that hasled to superficial talk to the effect that
philosophy is an infinite task. Theyearning for a unity that cannot
be arrived at by questions turns, in itsdisappointment, to the
alternative that could be called a counterquestion.This
counterquestion then pursues the lost unity of the question, or
seeks asuperior question, which would simultaneously be a search
for a unifiedanswer.-If such questions-questions that seek a
unity--did exist, theanswers to them would permit neither further
questioning nor counterques-tioning. But no such questions exist;
the systemof philosophy as such cannotbe interrogated. And to this
virtual question (which can be inferred onlyfrom the answer) there
could obviously be only one answer: the system ofphilosophy itself.
Nevertheless there are constructs that bear the deepestaffinity to
philosophy, or rather to the ideal form of its problem,
withoutconstituting philosophy themselves--even though they are not
the answerto that hypothetical question, or hypothetical, or even
the question. Theseconstructs, which are thus actual, not virtual,
and are neither questions nor
-
7/31/2019 Benjamin - The Theory of Criticism
2/3
218 The Theory of Criticismanswers, are works of art. Works of
art do not compete with philosophy assuch. They do, however, enter
into the profoundest relation with it throughtheir affinity to the
ideal of its problem. The ideal of the philosophicalproblem is an
idea that can be called an ideal, because it refers not to
theimmanent form of the problem but to the transcendent content of
itssolution, even though only through the concept of the problem
and thusthrough the concept that it possesses a unified answer to
the problem.According to a lawfulness that is probably grounded in
the essence of theideal as such, the ideal of the philosophical
problem can be represented onlyin a multiplicity (just as the ideal
of pure content in art is to be found inthe plurality of the
Muses). Therefore, the unity of philosophy can inprinciple be
explored only in a plurality or multiplicity of virtual [this
wordwas subsequently crossed out-Ed.] questions. This multiplicity
lies im-mured in the multiplicity of true works of art, and their
promotion is thebusiness of critique. What critique basically seeks
to prove about a work ofart is the virtual possibility of the
formulation of its contents as a philo-sophical problem, and what
makes it call a halt-in awe, as it were, of thework of art itself,
but equally in awe of philosophy-is the actual formula-tion of the
problem. For critique arrives at its formulation on the
assumption(which is never made good) that interrogating the
philosophical system assuch is possible. In other words, critique
asserts that, if the system werecomplete, it would turn out to have
been interrogated during the investiga-tion of one problem or
another. Critique makes the ideal of the philosophicalproblem
manifest itself in a work of art, or enter into one of its
manifesta-tions; if, however, critique wishes to speak of the work
of art as such, it cansay only that the artwork symbolizes this
ideal. The multiplicity of worksof art is harmonious, as the
Romantics perceived, and, as the latter alsosuspected, this harmony
does not stem from a vague principle peculiar toart and implicit in
art alone. Rather, it arises from the fact that works ofart are
ways in which the ideal of the philosophical problem makes
itselfmanifest.
When we assert that everything beautiful somehow relates to the
true andthat its virtual place in philosophy is determinable, this
means that a mani-festation of the ideal of the philosophical
problem can be discovered in everywork of art. And we should add
that such a manifestation may be assignedto every philosophical
problem as its aura [Strahlenkreis], so to speak. Atevery point the
hypothetical approach to the unity to be interrogated isavailable,
and the work of art in which it is contained is therefore relatedto
certain authentic philosophical problems, even though it may be
preciselydistinguished from them.
Corresponding to this manifestation of the true as well as of
the individualtruth in the individual work of art is a further
manifestation of the beautifulin the true. This is the
manifestation of the coherent, harmonious totality
-
7/31/2019 Benjamin - The Theory of Criticism
3/3
The Theory of Criticism 219of the beautiful in the unity of the
true. Plato's Symposium, at its climax,deals' with this topic. Its
message is that beauty achieves this virtual mani-festation only
within the truth as a whole.
What remains to be investigated is the common ground for these
tworelations between art and philosophy.(The true: unity.The
beautiful: multiplicity assembled into a totality.)(Perhaps there
is a virtual relation between other realms, too. Can'tmorality
appear virtually in freedom?)Comparison: Suppose you make the
acquaintance of a young person whois handsome and attractive, but
who seems to be harboring a secret. It wouldbe tactless and
reprehensible to try to penetrate this secret and wrest it fromhim.
But it is doubtless permissible to inquire whether he has any
siblings,to see whether their nature could not perhaps explain
somewhat the enig-matic character of the stranger. This is exactly
how the true critic inquiresinto the siblings of the work of art.
And every great work has its sibling(brother or sister?) in the
realm of philosophy.Just as philosophy makes use of symbolic
concepts to draw ethics andlanguage into the realm of theory, in
the same way it is possible for theory(logic) to be incorporated
into ethics and language in symbolic form. Wethen see the emergence
of ethical and' aesthetic critique.Fragment written in 1919-1920;
unpublished in Benjamin's lifetime.Translated by Rod-ney
Livingstone.
Notes1. Benjamin uses the term "criticism" (Kunstkritik:
literally "art criticism") as the
general designation for all criticism of literature, art, music,
etc. In this text, aswell as in The Concept of Criticism in German
Romanticism and "Goethe'sElective Affinities," the term "critique"
(Kritik) usually designates a specific,philosophically informed
aspect of criticism.- Trans.
