björn thorsteinsson
complete re-winning of man. This dissolution of society as a particular
estate is the proletariat.^19Now, the thrust of Agamben’s argument is that when responding to
the emancipatory promise contained in these words, we should take
care not to be overly atheological. Messianic temporality, the thinking
of the Jetztzeit, is what is needed to empower the Marxian heritage — at
least in the present situation. This is the lesson we should learn from
Benjamin — a lesson which, alas, Derrida seems to have missed. An
indication, which does not fall far short of a proof, is provided by a
footnote in Specters of Marx which is the only place in the book where
Derrida shows an awareness of Benjamin’s Theses — referred to, in the
footnote, as “a text that interests us here for many reasons, in particular
for what it says, at its beginning, about the automaton” (180/95n).
Evoking a few passages from the text, Derrida, in the end, comments
that
[w]e should quote and reread here all these pages — which are dense,
enigmatic, burning — up to the final allusion to the “chip” (shard,
splinter: Splitter) that the messianic inscribes in the body of the at-
present (Jetztzeit) and up to the “strait gate” for the passage of the
Messiah, namely, every “second.” (181/96n)The straightforward reaction to these remarks is simply to exclaim
“Yes, we (or, more accurately, you!) should have done that, we should
have quoted and reread the Theses, especially here, in the context of the
deconstructionist attempt to rework the legacy of Marx!” To reiterate,
such an effort on Derrida’s part would have resulted in a more powerful,
and more empowering, version of hauntology — precisely through a
more thorough and careful adoption of messianic elements. In this
context, we may note how Agamben criticizes Derrida, implicitly, for
lack of faith — for, according to the former, “[f]aith consists in being
fully persuaded of the necessary unity of promise and realization.”^20
- Karl Marx, Introduction to a Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of
Right (1843), http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-hpr/
intro.htm, accessed 2 May 2008. - Agamben, The time that remains, 156.