The Philosophy Book

258

See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Karl Marx 196–203 ■ Theodor Adorno 266–67 ■

Roland Barthes 290–91

T

he German philosopher

Walter Benjamin was an

affiliate of the Frankfurt

School, a group of neo-Marxist

social theorists who explored the

significance of mass culture and

communication. Benjamin was also

fascinated by the techniques of film

and literature, and his 1926 essay

One-Way Street is an experiment in

literary construction. It is a

collection of observations—

intellectual and empirical—that

apparently occur to him as he walks

down an imaginary city street.

In the essay Benjamin does not

set out a grand theory. Instead

he wants to surprise us with ideas,

in the same way that we might be

surprised by something catching

our eye while on a walk. Toward

the end of the essay, he says that

“Quotations in my work are like

wayside robbers who leap out,

brandishing weapons, and relieve

the idler of his certainty.”

Illuminating love

The idea that the only way of

knowing a person is to love them

hopelessly appears in the middle of

the essay, under the heading “Arc

Lamp.” In a flare of light, Benjamin

pauses and thinks just this, and no

more—the essay moves immediately

afterward to a new section. We are

forced to guess what he means. Is

he saying that knowledge arises

out of love? Or that it is only when

we stop hoping for some outcome

that we can clearly see the beloved?

We cannot know. All we can do is

walk down the street alongside

Benjamin, experiencing the flare of

light of these passing thoughts. ■

THE ONLY WAY OF

KNOWING A PERSON

IS TO LOVE THEM

WITHOUT HOPE

WALTER BENJAMIN (1892–1940)

IN CONTEXT

BRANCH

Ethics

APPROACH

Frankfurt School

BEFORE

c.380 BCE Plato writes his

Symposium, considered the

first sustained philosophical

account of love.

1863 The French writer

Charles Baudelaire explores

the idea of the flâneur, the

“person who walks the city to

experience it.”

AFTER

1955 Guy Debord establishes

psychogeography, the study

of the effects of geography

on an individual’s emotions

and behavior.

1971 Italian novelist

Italo Calvino explores the

relationships between

cities and signs in his book

Invisible Cities.

The construction of life

currently lies far more in

the hands of facts than

of convictions.

Walter Benjamin