Notes to Walter

The establishment of borders after a war is a clear example of the institutionalisation of a relation of domination inherent in all lawmaking violence. This demonically ambiguous equality of the law, Benjamin writes, is analogous to that which Anatole France satirically expressed when he said: In contrast hereto, if violence as a means directed towards legal ends—exemplified by compulsory general conscription where the state forces the citizens to risk their lives to protect the state—the violence will be law-preserving.

In both capital punishment and police violence the distinction between lawmaking and law-preserving violence is suspended. In capital punishment and police violence alike, the state reaffirms itself: This violence of the law—the oscillation between lawmaking and law-preserving violence visible in police violence—is explained by Benjamin with reference to the Greek myth of Niobe.

What Niobe challenges is not the law, but the authority or the legitimate power of Leto. Having now expounded the relation between law and violence, the question of the relationship between law and justice can be raised. Benjamin is not only speaking in metaphors when he writes: Justice is an end which in principle cannot be reached within the realm of law: What is called for is therefore a proletarian general strike that aims at the destruction of all state power.

The problem, as Derrida saw, is that we can never know whether actions have been a manifestation of divine violence. Justice is possible but not knowable through an act of divine violence, which in all respects stands in complete opposition to the mythic violence of law: In contrast to mythic violence, divine violence does not aspire to institute as law a relation of domination: How can we understand the purification of the guilty of the law by divine violence?

The German rein as the English pure carries the double meaning of something clean, and something absolute and unalloyed. Firstly, divine violence is pure meaning clean because it has not been bastardized with law; it is pure as before the fall of man; it is pure from the guilt of the law the guilt Niobe feels for the death of her children. Where mythic violence conflates means and ends, divine violence separates means and ends. As Benjamin argues, just ends can only be decided by God, and no law can be given for justified means; what we have is only a guideline Richtschnur.

A Richtschnur is an approximation used practically to build a house. To build a good house the masons, in general, would have to follow this Richschnur but sometimes, because of a broken ground, a good house could only be built if the Richtschnur is ignored. The commandment is not law but a guideline which in general would have to be followed for human beings to live a good life, as the masons in general have to follow it to build a good house. There might however be situations where it would have to be ignored.

However, as Derrida pointed out, many of these deconstruct themselves. For this reason, the two theories agree that violence as a means can be justified if it is in accordance with the law. Benjamin raises the following objections against this dogma: Hereby, the question of whether violence in principle can be a moral means even to a just end is made impossible to address.

By insisting on critiquing violence in itself, Benjamin challenges the fundamental dogma of jurisprudence, namely, that justice can be attained if means and ends are balanced, that is, if justified means are used for just ends.

c.1603 - 1616

The question, thus, is how violence and law relate to one another? Benjamin argues that the intimate relationship of violence and law is twofold.

1. Notes: Walter Frances BESTER.
2. Notes on the Thought of Walter Benjamin: Critique of Violence.
3. Walter's Note | Grim Dawn Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia.
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5. Notes on the Thought of Walter Benjamin: Critique of Violence.

Firstly, violence is the means by which law is instituted and preserved. Secondly, domination violence under the name of power Macht is the end of the law: Benjamin distinguishes between lawmaking violence rechtsetzend Gewalt and law-preserving violence rechtserhaltende Gewalt on basis of whether the end towards which violence is used as a means is historically acknowledged, i.

If violence as a means is directed towards natural ends—as in the case of interstate war where one or more states use violence to ignore historically acknowledged laws such as borders—the violence will be lawmaking. The establishment of borders after a war is a clear example of the institutionalisation of a relation of domination inherent in all lawmaking violence. This demonically ambiguous equality of the law, Benjamin writes, is analogous to that which Anatole France satirically expressed when he said: In contrast hereto, if violence as a means directed towards legal ends—exemplified by compulsory general conscription where the state forces the citizens to risk their lives to protect the state—the violence will be law-preserving.

In both capital punishment and police violence the distinction between lawmaking and law-preserving violence is suspended. In capital punishment and police violence alike, the state reaffirms itself: This violence of the law—the oscillation between lawmaking and law-preserving violence visible in police violence—is explained by Benjamin with reference to the Greek myth of Niobe. What Niobe challenges is not the law, but the authority or the legitimate power of Leto. Having now expounded the relation between law and violence, the question of the relationship between law and justice can be raised.

Benjamin is not only speaking in metaphors when he writes: Justice is an end which in principle cannot be reached within the realm of law: What is called for is therefore a proletarian general strike that aims at the destruction of all state power. The problem, as Derrida saw, is that we can never know whether actions have been a manifestation of divine violence. Other sources consulted include: The exception is Sermo de visione beatifica , which was likely written in Avignon in , and so belongs to the next stage; see Dykmans [].

Census Notes

For the dating of De paupertate evangelica see Douie [], p. The list of Chatton's works was compiled from Sharpe, [], pp. The Lectura dates are based on mention of Ockham's Summa logicae , which gives a terminus post quem of ; Wodeham's citation in of Lectura material gives a terminus ante quem of Emden cites this same source as evidence that Chatton was in Oxford in the spring of , involved on the side of the Franciscan Order in a court case.

Three areas in which scholars have attempted to determine his life and career in more detail have been more controversial, viz.