Bridging Benjamin : a philosophy of technology, place, and education / Dominic Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Dominic (Philosophy teacher), author.

Series:

Electronic mediations ; v. 68.

Electronic mediations ; 68

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Children's radio programs--History--20th century.

Children's radio programs.

Mass media and culture--Philosophy.

Mass media and culture.

Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940--Criticism and interpretation.

Benjamin, Walter.

Physical Description:

xii, 252 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, [2026]

Summary:

"Philosopher and cultural critic Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) has long been recognized for his influence on the fields of literature, film, media studies, critical legal theory, and philosophy. Bringing fresh attention to an often-overlooked aspect of his oeuvre, Bridging Benjamin examines the dozens of radio broadcasts he produced, primarily for children, between 1927 and 1933. Delivered after the academic rejection of his notoriously complex Trauerspiel, these shows became a testing ground for Benjamin's developing ideas and experimental pedagogy. Though they were cast off as inconsequential by both Benjamin and his contemporaries, Dominic Smith reveals the broadcasts to be a fruitful site for a novel, "derailed" interpretation of Benjamin's larger body of work. Reading Benjamin's radio production as a dynamic site of philosophical experimentation, Smith uses it as a channel and amplifier for three integral but underappreciated aspects of Benjamin's work: his philosophies of technology, place, and education. Showing how he used broadcast media to explore the increasing "virtualization" of place in networked society, Bridging Benjamin encourages an embrace of Benjamin in contrast to his divisive historical counterparts in the philosophy of technology, such as Martin Heidegger and Carl Schmitt. Interpreting Benjamin's broadcasts as a form of peripatetic thinking--deeply embedded in place, yet mobile and mediated--Bridging Benjamin offers a compelling model for reassessing attachments to the technologies and practices shaping our contemporary worlds." -- Publisher's description.

Contents:

Introduction: Benjamin Derailed

Methodological Extremism

Delicate Empiricism

The Actuality of Place

The Virtuality of Place

Program Without Transmission

Localizing Philosophy: An Educational Practice

Conclusion: Benjamin Abridged.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781517919641

1517919649

9781517919658

1517919657

OCLC:

1532841012

Publisher Number:

90103821936