Walter Benjamin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 July 1892 |
| Died | 26 September 1940 (aged 48) |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western Philosophy |
| School | Western Marxism |
Main interests | Literary theory, aesthetics, philosophy of technology, epistemology, philosophy of language, philosophy of history |
Notable ideas | Auratic perception, aestheticization of politics |
Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin (German: [ˈvaltɐ ˈbɛnjamiːn]; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German philosopher, cultural critic, and translator.
Benjamin was born to a Jewish family in Berlin, then-German Empire.
He worked in many subjects such as German idealism, Romanticism, historical materialism, and Jewish mysticism. He helped aesthetic theory, media studies and Western Marxism grow.
Benjamin died by suicide by taking an overdose of morphine in Portbou at the French–Spanish border while attempting to escape from the Nazis at the age of 48.
Jewish-East German judge and politician Hilde Benjamin was his brother's wife.
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