scholarly journals Capitalism as religion: a bolstered defense

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (48) ◽  
pp. 256
Author(s):  
Felipe G. A. Moreira
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Religious People

Under the influence of Max Weber, Walter Benjamin and Giorgio Agamben argue for (CiR): the claim that capitalism is identical to a religion. Yet, these defenses of (CiR) seem quite easily refutable. This is insofar as it is not clear whether they:(i) rely on a plausible use of the terms “capitalism” and “religion”; (ii) spell out the justificatory resource that backs up belief in (CiR); and (iii) show the pertinence of revising ordinary use of language in calling “religious people”, apparently non-religious people who supposedly would follow the religion of capitalism. It is this essay’s aim, then, to bolster Benjamin’s and Agamben’s defense of (CiR) by articulating a new defense of this claim that accomplishes (i) to (iii) and reads Donald Trump as a “reverend” of the religion of capitalism.

scholarly journals Capitalism as religion: From Max Weber to Giorgio Agamben through Walter Benjamin

2021 ◽  
Vol - (1) ◽  
pp. 105-115
Author(s):  
Anatolii Denysenko
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Pure Form ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Continuous Performance ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Spirit Of Capitalism

The article, based on the work “Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism” explores the concept of «capitalism» by Max Weber, as well as a critique of capitalism itself based on the texts of Walter Benjamin and Giorgio Agamben. All three authors have different views on the nature of capitalism. If Weber is positive about capitalism, Benjamin and Weber see it as a danger. Weber approaches the issue from the point of view of Protestant practice, Benjamin and Agamben see capitalism as a parasite that uses Christian theology for its own useful purposes. Weber writes about the “spirit” of capitalism, Benjamin and Agamben write about capitalism as a form of religion. Weber wrote that «unbridled lust» is by no means identical with capitalism, much less its «spirit». Weber characterizes capitalism through such virtues as honesty, punctuality, diligence, moderation. Benjamin suggested that «Christianity during the Reformation did not contribute to the advent of capitalism, but was transformed into capitalism». He writes that capitalism is perhaps the most extreme of all religious cults, because it is based on a purely psychological connection to the object being fetishized. This cult, devoid of ideology or theology, exists solely through the continuous performance of its rituals — the purchase of goods and their consumption. Agamben asks very important question: “if capitalism is a religion, how do we interpret it in terms of faith? What does capitalism believe in?” He writes that capitalism is a religion based on faith. Capitalism is not simply the secularization of the Protestant faith. Agamben writes that capitalism is a religion where faith and credit replace God. Ever since money became a pure form of trust, capitalism has become a religion in which money is the God.

scholarly journals Messianismo e política em Giorgio Agamben

Reflexão ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Oswaldo Giacoia Junior
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Giorgio Agamben

Contemporâneo é o que não coincide inteiramente com seu tempo, embora contenha a verdade dele; que é capaz de dividi-lo e interpolá-lo, para compreender, em sua gênese e vir a ser, o essencial próprio tempo em que se insere. Contemporâneo é, portanto, o arcaico, o que percebe o princípio genético, a arché daquilo que, no presente, nos constitui. Ser extemporâneo é colocar-se em condições de transformar seu próprio tempo, ao relacioná-lo com os outros tempos, de ler nele a história de maneira inédita, de “encontrar-se” com sua história segundo a força de uma necessidade que não é mero arbítrio individual, mas força de uma exigência humana à qual não se pode deixar de respond­er. É como se a escuridão do presente gerasse uma luz invisível, que projetasse sua sombra sobre o passado, e este, ao ser tocado por aquele feixe de sombras, adquirisse a capacidade de responder, de colocar-se em relação com trevas do agora. Palavras-chave: Giorgio Agamben. Messianismo. Política. Walter Benjamin.

scholarly journals L’État et la guerre

2007 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-31
Author(s):  
Ninon Grangé
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Cette Condition

Résumé Walter Benjamin, Carl Schmitt puis Giorgio Agamben ont chacun remis en cause l’idée de norme, dans l’État confronté à la violence, à partir de la notion d’exception. Or l’état d’exception revient à traiter juridiquement d’une matière politique et à occulter le déclencheur, réel ou fantasmé, de l’exception juridique, à savoir la guerre. Une proposition pour comprendre conjointement la difficulté du droit à s’ajuster au surgissement de la violence et l’explosion des formes de guerre répertoriées par l’histoire, consiste à abandonner l’idée de fiction juridique au profit de « fictions politiques ». Ce faisant on substitue à la notion de norme celle, plus descriptive, du phénomène de la violence collective, de « référence » à un type abstrait de guerre pour mesurer les guerres réelles. C’est à cette condition que l’on peut repenser l’exception et son déclencheur, ainsi que l’indétermination première entre guerre extérieure et guerre intérieure.

Enchantment in Times of War: Aby Warburg, Walter Benjamin, and the Secularization Thesis

2009 ◽  
Vol 105 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane O. Newman
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
World War ◽  
Deep Roots ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Two Kingdoms ◽  
Aby Warburg ◽  
Working Out

This article reads Aby Warburg's and Walter Benjamin's work on the astrological movements of the Reformation era in dialogue with the theory of relations between the spiritual and the temporal developed in Protestant "war theology" during World War I. War theology developed themes already present in historical Protestant doctrine, notably Luther's Two Kingdoms theory (Zwei Reiche Lehre). Warburg and Benjamin were wrestling with the challenge of living at a time of great conflict in a highly sacralized——rather than secularized——world with deep roots in early modern Lutheranism. Max Weber was working out his ideas about magic, Calvinism, and secularization at the same time. The article thus also suggests the need to reassess his theses about the emergence of a secular world purged of irrationalism in dialogue with Warburg's and Benjamin's work.

scholarly journals Contemporâneos do futuro: Raúl Antelo e Maria Gabriela Llansol, gestos que destotalizam

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (29) ◽  
pp. 191-204
Author(s):  
Pedro Henrique Paixão
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Giorgio Agamben

Este artigo propõe uma conversa entre as ideias heterogêneas desenvolvidas pelo crítico cultural Raúl Antelo e o trabalho incomum da escritora Maria Gabriela Llansol, em suas respectivas articulações com noções de “Tempo” e “História”, “Passado” e “Futuro”, mas, sobretudo, evidencia a potência do contemporâneo que há em seus gestos, que apresentam a crítica e o texto como um “lugar do político”. Tencionando-os em uma relação com o pensamento de figuras como Walter Benjamin e Giorgio Agamben, especialmente no que se refere à ruptura com o mito do progresso histórico e com a pontualidade que domina a concepção ocidental do tempo; ao procedimento de montagem dos fragmentos do “mundo pós-desastre” no exercício crítico e criativo, e à ideia da “infância como pátria transcendental da história”.

scholarly journals Giorgio Agamben—A Modern Sabbatian? Marranic Messianism and the Problem of Law

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Piotr Sawczyński
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Jewish Tradition ◽  
Jewish Law ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Radical Critique

The article analyzes the influence of the kabbalistic doctrine of Sabbatianism on the messianic philosophy of Giorgio Agamben. I argue against Simon Critchley that Agamben’s critique of the sovereign law is not inspired by Marcion’s idea of the total annihilation of law but by Sabbatai Zevi’s project of deactivating its repressive function. I further argue that Agamben also adopts the Sabbatian idea of Marranic messianism, which makes him repeatedly contaminate the Jewish tradition with foreign influences. Although this strategy is potentially fruitful, it eventually leads Agamben to overemphasize antinomianism and problematically associate all Jewish-based messianism with the radical critique of law. In the article, I demonstrate that things are more complex and even in the openly antinomian works of Walter Benjamin—Agamben’s greatest philosophical inspiration—Jewish law is endued with some emancipatory potential.

scholarly journals Entre o Relato e a Paródia: Pina Bausch e suas re-leituras na pesquisa acadêmica brasileira

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-468
Author(s):  
Marcelo de Andrade Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Pina Bausch

Resumo: O artigo consiste numa reflexão de teor filosófico a partir de um levantamento da produção acadêmica realizada no Brasil sobre a obra da coreógrafa alemã Pina Bausch. Esse levantamento foi realizado em plataformas digitais, abrangendo o período de 1988 a 2018, e compreendeu artigos publicados em periódicos, capítulos de livros, livros, teses e dissertações. Assim, a presente investigação pretende averiguar de que modo tais abordagens se aproximam da obra de Bausch, se direta ou indiretamente. Opera-se com os conceitos de imagem, paródia e relato, procurando refletir, com o aporte da filosofia de Giorgio Agamben e Walter Benjamin - de forma colateral -, sobre os paradoxos das pesquisas em tela.

Béla Balázs: The Face of Cinema

October ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 148 ◽  
pp. 53-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noël Carroll
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Bela Bartok ◽  
Georg Simmel ◽  
Zoltan Kodaly ◽  
Karl Mannheim ◽  
Sergei Eisenstein ◽  
Michael Curtiz ◽  
The Face ◽  
Gyorgy Lukacs

Herbert Bauer, known to the world as Béla Balázs (1894–1949), led the sort of life about which contemporary intellectuals might fantasize. He knew everyone and he did everything. Born in Hungary, he included György Lukács, Karl Mannheim, Arnold Hauser, Béla Bartók, and Zoltán Kodály in his circle, among others. He knew the filmmakers Alexander Korda and Michael Curtiz before their names were Anglicized. He studied with Georg Simmel and met Max Weber. As time went on, he came, so it seems, to know virtually every major European intellectual—Stefan Zweig, Robert Musil, Walter Benjamin, Sergei Eisenstein, Erwin Piscator, and on and on. He lived in the midst of a universe of conversation that dazzles us as we look back enviously upon it.

scholarly journals Preferiría no firmar... Sobre algunos problemas políticos en la filosofía de Giorgio Agamben

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Germán Osvaldo Prósperi
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Homo Sacer ◽  
Pierre Klossowski

En Homo sacer I. Il potere sovrano e la nuda vita, Giorgio Agamben recuerda una expresión que le dirigiera Walter Benjamin a Pierre Klossowski e, indirectamente, al grupo Acéphale: vous travaillez pour le fascisme. En este artículo quisiéramos mostrar que es el pensamiento político-ontológico del propio Agamben, y también en cierto sentido el de Benjamin – quien ha influido de modo decisivo en el filósofo italiano –, el que en verdad corre el riesgo de trabajar para el fascismo. Mostraremos por eso la necesidad de distinguir dos niveles de lo político: un nivel trascendental y un nivel empírico. Si no se atiende a esta distinción, argumentaremos, se corre el riesgo de trabajar, efectivamente, para el fascismo.

scholarly journals Walter Benjamin e Giorgio Agamben: uma análise das implicações políticas da linguagem

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-118
Author(s):  
Claudecir dos Santos
Keyword(s):  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Giorgio Agamben

O presente artigo tem a pretensão de analisar os desdobramentos da dimensão política da linguagem em Walter Benjamin e Giorgio Agamben, e observar como a verdade e seus efeitos de poder se manifestam a partir das relações da linguagem com os dispositivos que a tornam possível de ser vivenciada. Além disso, traz presente a concepção própria de Benjamin acerca da linguagem, estabelecendo uma relação entre a filosofia da linguagem benjaminiana com alguns conceitos da teoria do filósofo italiano Giorgio Agamben.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document