ABSTRACTIn this essay I draw attention to conceptual similarities in Walter Benjamin’s and Theodor W. Adorno’s reflection about language, with special attention to Benjamin’s 1916 essay about language as such, including its theological impulses. In Adorno’s case, I concentrate on language theory as it comes forth in relation to his philosophy of music and the supposed language-character of music. I argue that this particular connection between Benjamin and Adorno is largely unexplored in the literature, and I show that their conceptual (...) affinities have far-reaching consequences for a proper understanding of Adorno’s philosophy as a whole. Music is of fundamental importance for Adorno’s critical theory, and this fact points to an intricate entwinement between materialism and theology, stemming from Benjamin’s theory of language. Thinking of music as secularized prayer means to emphasize that music relates to reality in a way that resembles the logic of Benjamin’s understanding of a pre-lapsarian language of... (shrink)

El presente trabajo examina la reflexión de Walter Benjamin en torno a la categoría de “redención”, desarrollada principalmente en las tesis Sobre el concepto de historia. Para ello, en primer lugar llevaremos a cabo una reconstrucción de la crítica del “destino”, que Benjamin proyecta en los años veinte sobre el ámbito del derecho, la economía y, especialmente, la historia. La crítica a la lógica expiatoria del “destino” – elaborada en ensayos como Destino y carácter, Hacia la crítica de la violencia (...) o Capitalismo como religión – nos ofrecerá entonces una vía privilegiada para mostrar la estructura “dialéctica” de la redención, con la que Benjamin moviliza su anterior teoría del conocimiento contra la doctrina del progreso. (shrink)

The article examines the meaning of the concepts of "doctrine" and "tradition" in Walter Benjamin's 1917 reflections, concepts that are closely linked to his reception of Kant. Given the scarce analysis of this appropriation, the paper seeks to show that these concepts express an interest in Kant's idea of the systematic unity of knowledge and that Benjamin reinterprets such unity in Messianic terms, that is, not as a necessary assumption, but as a demand for redemption. Finally, it shows how these (...) notions are implicit in Benjamin's On the Program of the Coming Philosophy. (shrink)