FRAGMENTOS REFLEXIVOS ACERCA DAS “TESES SOBRE O CONCEITO DE HISTÓRIA” DE WALTER BENJAMIN

Abstract

We intend with this essay, in memorialistic tones, to develop groping reflections in the surroundings of the work “Theses on the concept of history” by Walter Benjamin, ballasted both on the interpretations of some of his core notions – such as the relationship between Marxism and Theology, progress, technique/technology etc., as well as attempts to bring Benjaminian thought closer to other authors similar to the themes explored. Based on the notions of messianic redemption, remembrance and reparation, we dialogue with Benjamin, Cabral and Lévy about the importance of the confluence of oppressed cultures of resistance, as a fertilizing locus of the class struggle in its articulation with other forms of oppression, especially in a context of so-called “post-modern” capitalism that never stops trying to make us believe in the end of history and utopias. In sequence, bringing together Benjamin and the thought of the original Brazilian peoples – represented here in the life-and-work of Aílton Krenak, we intend to make some reflections mainly based on the motto of Thesis XI, in his discussion about the relationships between work, nature and culture. In short, this process aimed to establish sentimental-thoughtful reflective intuitions that could, in the future, delimit hypotheses around the central theme of the Theses in its critique of the concept of progress, in the close association of this ideological conception with one of its favourite daughters: modern techno-science.