Walter Benjamin as Philosopher of Urban Life: The City as Embodiment of Freedom View Digital Media

Workshop Presentation
Nathan Ross  

In this workshop we will examine the work Walter Benjamin as a philosopher of cities, ranging from Paris and Berlin, to Naples, Marseille and Moscow. As a materialist philosopher seeking after 'profane illumination', Benjamin argues that a form of experience must be embodied to gain its full ontological significance, and cities represent exemplary forms of such embodiment. I argue that he understands cities as potential embodiments of the 'most glorious freedom of thought' to the extent that they allow for the unique and momentary mixture of human activities that would normally remain strictly separated: the interior and the exterior, sleeping and waking, tradition and youth, community and individualistic seclusion. In the workshop we will read short texts he wrote on Berlin around 1900; Paris in the 19th century; Naples; and Moscow after the revolution. We will highlight passages in which Benjamin dwells on unique elements of the constructed environment that have special significance to illustrate his theory of human freedom, such as the loggias of Berlin; the arcades in Paris and the dense tangle of dwellings with theaters and sacred spaces in Naples.