Sunday, May 1, 2011
Jam to the Spring.
One the the passages that really stuck out to me was, part VI. "To articulate the past historically does not mean to recognize it 'the way it really was' (Ranke). It means to seize hold of a memory as it flashes up at a moment of danger. Historical materialism wishes to retain that image of the past which unexpectedly appears to man singled out by history at a moment of danger (Pg. 225). Not sure I completely understand what he was getting at with this idea but I find it interesting that he doesn't agree with Ranke's view of history, and one of our major themes in our class, "wie es eigentlich gewesen." From my understanding, it doesn't matter how the past happened, it matters how it appears to reflect to a person in a moment of danger. Maybe this is where the "life flashing before your eyes" when you have a near death experience thing originated. I really wish he had had a chance to expand on all the parts of this reading because I know it would have made a lot more sense and I wouldn't currently be so flustered from trying to make sense of it.
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I agree and I think that Benjamin is trying to convey that historical materialism is the best way to look at history. He makes an obvious point that historical materialism is not just telling history "the way it really was." I think he is saying that one of the dangers of historicism is that "every image of the past that is not recognized by the present as one of its own concerns threatens to disappear irretrievably" (255).
ReplyDeleteFrom what you said, I think this is very important --> "it doesn't matter how the past happened, it matters how it appears to reflect to a person in a moment of danger."
ReplyDeleteIt is one of the thing that I did not catch though have a hunch on. I tried to make sense of it for a while because it seems like Ben (the book's Ben, not living Ben) is against Ranke's idea of plain, painful facts without analysis. Anyway, both Bens just make it hard to understand historiography. I hope the class on Tuesday will help explaining things.
I wish there was a like button for comments on here.
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