Page 159 - 《社会》2022年第2期

社会·2022·2

satisfaction. On the other hand， in order to fight against the boredom of the material
civilisation， the youth indulged in subjective fantasy and particular experiences in the
name of “Romanticism”. It allowed people to temporarily escape from the problems of
excessive rationalisation but couldn’t help them achieve true redemption of the soul. It
is in this context that Benjamin carried out his early representative work The Concept of
Criticism in German Romanticism and other contemporaneous studies on Romanticism.
In these works， Benjamin clarified the core spirit of Romanticism， especially Jena
Romanticism based on their concept of “criticism”. He pointed out the ethos of
Romanticism was not about being intoxicated and fanatical， but calm and sober. Rather
than subjective fantasies， it pursued objective truth through serious contemplation， and
rather than narrow particularities， it concerned with the history of human spirit as a
whole. Benjamin’s discussion on art criticism and the sober character of Romanticism
sheds a light on the relationship between literature， history and truth， as well as the
effective ways to deal with the crisis of modernity. In addition， through the elaboration of
Adorno and others， this discussion has had a profound impact on the Frankfurt school
and even on the critical theory in Europe as a whole. Benjamin’s work transcends the
category of art， and echoes the social reality of Germany at the turn of the century，
shares the common vision of German social theory. Therefore， for the purpose of
understanding the value of Romanticism and Benjamin’s contribution to social theory，
this paper builds its discussion by focusing on the concept of“criticism”.
Keywords：Walter Benjamin， Jena Romanticism， criticism， holy鄄sober

一、 引言

19 世纪末，德国已经完成了政治上的统一，这为国家经济、科学、
技术的发展提供了良好的环境。 面对生产力的进步和物质生活的富足，
不少乐观主义者为之称颂， 但是也有一批知识分子为精神和文化的迅
速衰落而担忧（ Benjamin，1977， 2011； Langbehn，1890）。 在后者看来，人
们正在把物质等同于全部现实， 逐渐臣服于一个空洞且具有欺骗性的
仅仅由“棉花、硬纸箱和包装纸构筑”的“现实世界”，放弃了人类自身
内在的精神世界，这种情形令人沮丧和窒息（Hughes， 1958）。 为了与单
调乏味的物质世界和城市工业文明对抗， 一批青年人组成了一个以森
林徒步为主要活动的社团，试图通过“回归自然”来“治愈独特的现代

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