The Question of Technology in Benjamin’s Work

The chapter situates Benjamin’s reflections on technology in the context of his time and elaborates his specific approach. Already in the interwar period, as again after the Second World War, the question of technology was controversially discussed among German intellectuals and oscillated between enthusiasm for technology and cultural pessimism. In contrast, Benjamin’s approach is characterized by articulating an immanent critique of technology which can be observed in several movements of thought. This critique reflects on the possibilities of contemporary technology to both subjugate and liberate people, and relates technology and society to each other in several ways: (1) sensory perception is presented as something that is technically mediated and changes in history; (2) collective images of desire and fear are discussed in relation to technology; (3) the conjunction between technological and social progress is related to the philosophy of history.