Los peligros de la estética en "La obra de arte en la época de su reproductibilidad técnica".

Abstract

This article engages with Walter Benjamin’s essay, “The Work of Art in the Era of Its Technical Reproducibility”. It analyzes Benjamin’s criticism of a “disinterested aesthetic” and explores the two alternatives that he suggests: the aestheticization of politics and the politicization of aesthetics. In order to illustrate the warnings that Benjamin makes regarding the “dangers of aesthetics,” the article makes a comparison with Franz Kafka’s story, In the penal colony. It concludes by underlining some of the similarities between Benjamin and the German aesthetic tradition.

Keywords

• Aesthetics
• Politics
• Walter Benjamin
• Franz Kafka
• Works of Art
• Technical Reproduction.