which in the twentieth century would be most famously developed by Walter Benjamin, and which can be labeled thinking in constellations. Constellative thinking is distinct from traditional forms of comparative analysis that attempt to vertically relate concepts through the identification and isolation of the latter’s common derivation from a higher principle or term that remains static or fixed. It attempts to upset conceptual understandings that have ossified into second natures through the demonstration of the historical being of the phenomena under consideration. The theory of the constellation would be given its classic expression in The Origin of German Tragic Benjamin’s Benjamin would initially distinguish between knowledge and truth, between Drama. philosophical representation and mathematical representation: more clearly mathematics “The demonstrate that the total elimination of the problem of representation which is boasted by – every didactic system is the sign of genuine knowledge, the more conclusively does it reveal its – renunciation of that area of truth towards which language is must be directed.” Philosophy oriented toward the representation of truth, as opposed to the acquisition of knowledge, which is characterized always by possession. Phenomena are capable of participating in truth only to the extent that they are able to elude assimilation into a system of acquired knowledge, only to the extent that their unity is broken up and their meaning multiplied. This multiplication is made possible through the empirical representation in a concept placed in a specific phenomenon’s historical their mediating role concepts enable phenomena to participate constellation: “Through in the existence of ideas. It is this same mediating role which fits them for the other equally basic task of philosophy, the representation of As concepts are to knowledge, ideas are to ideas.” truth. Truth, however, the representation of the idea, is not the representation of any determinate content, but rather the arrangement of the system of ideas are not represented in concepts: “For
which in the twentieth century would be most famously developed by Walter Benjamin, and which can be labeled thinking in constellations. Constellative thinking is distinct from traditional forms of comparative analysis that attempt to vertically relate concepts through the identification and isolation of the latter’s common derivation from a higher principle or term that remains static or fixed. It attempts to upset conceptual understandings that have ossified into second natures through the demonstration of the historical being of the phenomena under consideration. The theory of the constellation would be given its classic expression in Benjamin’s The Origin of German Tragic Drama. Benjamin would initially distinguish between knowledge and truth, between philosophical representation and mathematical representation: “The more clearly mathematics demonstrate that the total elimination of the problem of representation – which is boasted by every didactic system – is the sign of genuine knowledge, the more conclusively does it reveal its renunciation of that area of truth towards which language is directed.” Philosophy must be oriented toward the representation of truth, as opposed to the acquisition of knowledge, which is characterized always by possession. Phenomena are capable of participating in truth only to the extent that they are able to elude assimilation into a system of acquired knowledge, only to the extent that their unity is broken up and their meaning multiplied. This multiplication is made possible through the empirical phenomenon’s representation in a concept placed in a specific historical constellation: “Through their mediating role concepts enable phenomena to participate in the existence of ideas. It is this same mediating role which fits them for the other equally basic task of philosophy, the representation of ideas.” As concepts are to knowledge, ideas are to truth. Truth, however, the representation of the idea, is not the representation of any determinate content, but rather the arrangement of the system of concepts: “For ideas are not represented in