Abstract

PIRES, Eloiza Gurgel. Modernity, childhood and language in Walter Benjamin. Conjectura: filos. e Educ. [online]. 2016, vol.21, n.2, pp.245-274. ISSN 2178-4612.  https://doi.org/10.18226/21784612.v21.n2.245.

This work explores Walter Benjamin’s early writings and ponderings, which crystallized his thoughts concerning the process of modernity and the relationships established within the array of transformations in the time and space of a large city. What interest us, above all, are Benjamin’s studies on cities, coupled with his critique on knowledge. In the Benjaminian trail of thought, the city is seen as a corpus of reflection that involves other categories beyond the rationalism that turns urban images into a series of objective layouts. The city is placed beyond the empirical data as a ground for fantasies and reminiscences. From that perspective, history is approached as memory and the allegorical gaze of a child facing the urban labyrinth. In an attempt to regain the times and spaces of childhood - not asa chronologically marked period but as a language experience - the German philosopher constructs a linear concept of knowledge based on the continuum of its own history, thus developing a critique for a certain model of reason and rationality. In Benjamin’s writings, especially in excerpts from Berlin childhood around, we point out core aspects of the Benjaminian critique of the logical-deductive reasoning system that has largely influenced modern society. In that critique, childhood is the transcendental homeland; science and philosophy are regarded as art. From Benjaminian thought, an expanded view of education is presented - one that goes beyond the disciplinary frontiers and temporalities, as well as the environments of educational institutions. Some other authors included in this dialogue with the philosopher are as follows: Agamben, Gagnebin, Matos, Bolle, and others - researchers, scholars, and commentators of Benjamin’s thoughts and of different fields of study who have helped us weave the articulating threads of this work.

Keywords : Walter Benjamin; Childhood; Modernity; Language; Urban Space.

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