The Promise of the Future: Dimensions of Future in Walter Benjamin's Philosophy of History

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art ›› 2017, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (4): 70-75.

• Issue in Focus: Studies of Frankfurt School • Previous Articles Next Articles

The Promise of the Future: Dimensions of Future in Walter Benjamin's Philosophy of History

Hu Guoping

the School of Humanities, Tongji University (Shanghai 200092, China)

Online:2017-09-25 Published:2017-11-26
About author:Hu Guoping, Ph.D., is assistant professor in the School of Humanities, Tongji University (Shanghai 200092, China). His research is focused on ethics in European philosophy and literature, and contemporary poetry.

Abstract

Abstract: This paper presents the dimensions of future in Walter Benjamin's philosophy of history. Benjamin refused a systematized future which caused the oblivion of the failures. Benjamin puts forward a kind of philosophy of history whose future is illuminated by the unjustness of the past to the future. This philosophy of history which is loyal to the ethic of time regards the past as an incomplete one which carries the responsibility of the memory and establishes an ethical relation between the past and the future, opening to the others as widely as possible.

Key words: Walter Benjamin, philosophy of history, ethical responsibility, dimensions of future, promise

Hu Guoping. The Promise of the Future: Dimensions of Future in Walter Benjamin's Philosophy of History[J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2017, 37(4): 70-75.

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The Promise of the Future: Dimensions of Future in Walter Benjamin's Philosophy of History

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