Papers by Phillip Homburg
This thesis examines the emergence of Walter Benjamin’s materialism, within his early thought, fr... more This thesis examines the emergence of Walter Benjamin’s materialism, within his early thought, from within the context of post-Kantian philosophy. The original contribution made by this thesis is that it differentiates Benjamin’s materialism from both Romanticism and neo-Kantianism, on the one side, and empiricism, on the other. In contrast to those who identify Benjamin as a practitioner of a Romantic form of immanence, a neo-Kantian or a mystical empiricist, I place Benjamin’s materialism within the context of the conflict between an empiricist form of materialism and post-Kantian idealism. This thesis is divided into four chapters. In the first chapter, I examine the history of materialism and its critical reception in the Kantian idealist tradition. The second chapter examines of the development of Karl Marx’s materialism. I show that Marx’s conception of reality fundamentally challenges traditional conceptions of idealism and materialism. In the third chapter, I show that Benja...
An interview with the philosopher Howard Caygill, primarily concerning his book 'Resistance&#... more An interview with the philosopher Howard Caygill, primarily concerning his book 'Resistance', conducted in December 2013
Anthropology & Materialism
Alastair Gray: Professor Caygill, thank you very much for coming to Sussex today. We wanted to ju... more Alastair Gray: Professor Caygill, thank you very much for coming to Sussex today. We wanted to just start with a general question: why did you decide to write about resistance now?
Book Reviews by Phillip Homburg
Radical Philosophy 161 (September/October 2013)
Constellation: Friedrich Nietzsche and Walter Benjamin in the Now-time of History, Fordham Univer... more Constellation: Friedrich Nietzsche and Walter Benjamin in the Now-time of History, Fordham University Press, New York, 2013. 344 pp., £29.99 hb., 978 0 82324 536 9.
Talks by Phillip Homburg
Books by Phillip Homburg
Walter Benjamin and the Post-Kantian Tradition, 2017
Walter Benjamin and the Post-Kantian Tradition engages with Benjamin as a theorist of a historica... more Walter Benjamin and the Post-Kantian Tradition engages with Benjamin as a theorist of a historical and philosophical problematic of modernity: a problematic that he finds manifested, in different philosophical guises, within scientific empiricism, neo-Kantianism and German Romanticism. The book takes us through these manifestations systematically and, in doing so, it demonstrates how Benjamin develops a unique form of materialist criticism from within the tension he locates within transcendent neo-Kantianism idealism and the immanent standpoints of scientific materialism and German Romanticism.
This thesis examines the emergence of Walter Benjamin’s materialism, within his early thought, fr... more This thesis examines the emergence of Walter Benjamin’s materialism, within his early thought, from within the context of post-Kantian philosophy. The original contribution made by this thesis is that it differentiates Benjamin’s materialism from both Romanticism and neo-Kantianism, on the one side, and empiricism, on the other. In contrast to those who identify Benjamin as a practitioner of a Romantic form of immanence, a neo-Kantian or a mystical empiricist, I place Benjamin’s materialism within the context of the conflict between an empiricist form of materialism and post-Kantian idealism.
This thesis is divided into four chapters. In the first chapter, I examine the history of materialism and its critical reception in the Kantian idealist tradition. The second chapter examines of the development of Karl Marx’s materialism. I show that Marx’s conception of reality fundamentally challenges traditional conceptions of idealism and materialism. In the third chapter, I show that Benjamin’s critique of neo-Kantianism necessarily points towards a concept of knowledge that can encompass the particularity of experience qua sense experience within itself, something that is closed off in the neo-Kantian attempt to secure the objective validity of knowledge. The final chapter focuses on Benjamin’s attempt to locate an expanded concept of experience. I look at several instances of how this concept manifests itself in the poem, life and language. I develop a materialist account of the idea that runs counter to the neo-Kantian one. Finally, I conclude by showing the limits of the Romantic concept of immanence for Benjamin.
Throughout this thesis, I examine how Benjamin breaks out of both the neo- Kantian and Romantic strands of post-Kantian idealism. I also pay close attention to Benjamin’s critique of empiricism. This thesis demonstrates that Benjamin’s materialism emerges out of a serious engagement with that tradition, yet it remains irreducible to a form of neo-Kantianism, Romanticism, or empiricism.
Drafts by Phillip Homburg
In this unpublished chapter from my thesis I examine how Marx's materialism develops throughout h... more In this unpublished chapter from my thesis I examine how Marx's materialism develops throughout his writings and how he overcomes the problem of empiricism in his later writings, particularly in Capital.
In this paper I examine the limits of the philosophical conception of the symbol in Hegel and Wal... more In this paper I examine the limits of the philosophical conception of the symbol in Hegel and Walter Benjamin within their discussions of allegory and sign.
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Papers by Phillip Homburg
Book Reviews by Phillip Homburg
Talks by Phillip Homburg
Books by Phillip Homburg
This thesis is divided into four chapters. In the first chapter, I examine the history of materialism and its critical reception in the Kantian idealist tradition. The second chapter examines of the development of Karl Marx’s materialism. I show that Marx’s conception of reality fundamentally challenges traditional conceptions of idealism and materialism. In the third chapter, I show that Benjamin’s critique of neo-Kantianism necessarily points towards a concept of knowledge that can encompass the particularity of experience qua sense experience within itself, something that is closed off in the neo-Kantian attempt to secure the objective validity of knowledge. The final chapter focuses on Benjamin’s attempt to locate an expanded concept of experience. I look at several instances of how this concept manifests itself in the poem, life and language. I develop a materialist account of the idea that runs counter to the neo-Kantian one. Finally, I conclude by showing the limits of the Romantic concept of immanence for Benjamin.
Throughout this thesis, I examine how Benjamin breaks out of both the neo- Kantian and Romantic strands of post-Kantian idealism. I also pay close attention to Benjamin’s critique of empiricism. This thesis demonstrates that Benjamin’s materialism emerges out of a serious engagement with that tradition, yet it remains irreducible to a form of neo-Kantianism, Romanticism, or empiricism.
Drafts by Phillip Homburg
This thesis is divided into four chapters. In the first chapter, I examine the history of materialism and its critical reception in the Kantian idealist tradition. The second chapter examines of the development of Karl Marx’s materialism. I show that Marx’s conception of reality fundamentally challenges traditional conceptions of idealism and materialism. In the third chapter, I show that Benjamin’s critique of neo-Kantianism necessarily points towards a concept of knowledge that can encompass the particularity of experience qua sense experience within itself, something that is closed off in the neo-Kantian attempt to secure the objective validity of knowledge. The final chapter focuses on Benjamin’s attempt to locate an expanded concept of experience. I look at several instances of how this concept manifests itself in the poem, life and language. I develop a materialist account of the idea that runs counter to the neo-Kantian one. Finally, I conclude by showing the limits of the Romantic concept of immanence for Benjamin.
Throughout this thesis, I examine how Benjamin breaks out of both the neo- Kantian and Romantic strands of post-Kantian idealism. I also pay close attention to Benjamin’s critique of empiricism. This thesis demonstrates that Benjamin’s materialism emerges out of a serious engagement with that tradition, yet it remains irreducible to a form of neo-Kantianism, Romanticism, or empiricism.