| This thesis is a commentary on one of Walter Benjamin's fragments: 'Theologico-Political Fragment'. While there is wide agreement that this short and enigmatic text is one of the keys to Benjamin's philosophy of history, there has been no close study of the text itself. We start by adopting the method used by Benjamin when he wrote his thesis on German Romanticism. That is, we approach the text with the help of other fragments from the same period. This reveals and hopefully helps solve the debate regarding the dating of Benjamin's fragment. And with the help of Bloch's The Spirit of Utopia we see that the fragment belongs to the earlier period. Thus, we also do repair to a debt that has been overlooked: Bloch was greatly influential on Benjamin and any reading of the fragment cannot ignore this relationship.;Once the main stage has been set, we do a close analysis of the fragment. This analysis reveals that Benjamin compressed into this short text ideas and concepts that he would later further develop, especially in The Origin of German Tragic Drama. We focus on Benjamin's understanding of the messianic idea, which is thoroughly theological. We move on to Benjamin's concept of happiness, which Benjamin equates with social justice. Then, we approach Benjamin's concept of natural history which displays the fallen state of humanity; also, we look at his understanding of melancholy which we find pregnant with hope. We end with a chapter on the concept of restitutio in integrum. We think that work on these concepts and ideas is crucial for an understanding of Benjamin's philosophy of history. |
