Walter Benjamin

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Walter Benjamin
Born(1892-07-15)15 July 1892
Died26 September 1940(1940-09-26) (aged 48)
Era20th-century philosophy
RegionWestern Philosophy
SchoolWestern Marxism
Main interests
Literary theory, aesthetics, philosophy of technology, epistemology, philosophy of language, philosophy of history
Notable ideas
Auratic perception, aestheticization of politics
Influences
Influenced

Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin (German: [ˈvaltɐ ˈbɛnjamiːn];[1] 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940)[2] was a German philosopher, cultural critic, and translator.

Benjamin was born to a Jewish family in Berlin, then-German Empire.

He worked in many subjects such as German idealism, Romanticism, historical materialism, and Jewish mysticism. He helped aesthetic theory and Western Marxism grow.

Benjamin died by suicide by taking an overdose of morphine in Portbou at the French–Spanish border while attempting to escape from the Nazis at the age of 48.

Family[change | change source]

Jewish-East German judge and politician Hilde Benjamin was his brother's wife.

References[change | change source]

  1. Duden Aussprachewörterbuch (6 ed.). Mannheim: Bibliographisches Institut & F.A. Brockhaus AG. 2006.
  2. Witte, Bernd (1991). Walter Benjamin: An Intellectual Biography (English translation). Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press. pp. 9. ISBN 0-8143-2018-X.

Other websites[change | change source]

Media related to Walter Benjamin at Wikimedia Commons Quotations related to Walter Benjamin at Wikiquote