Page 27 - Darko Štrajn, From Walter Benjamin to the End of Cinema: Identities, Illusion and Signification. Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute, 2017. Digital Library, Dissertationes, 29.
P. 27
Benjamin‘s Aspect1
Form in all thinkable senses of the word makes a difference. Saying such
a thing seems a truism, seems more or less obvious, quite easily verifiable
in the so-called world of objects, not necessarily only the aesthetic ones.
In general terms “everything” around us has a certain form, which can be
seen or otherwise perceived. Our daily experience is full of semiconscious
or even unconscious recognitions of many forms. In an urban surround-
ings “forms” are standing around us in the shape of more or less architec-
tural erections, “forms” are driving in the streets as Alfa, BMW, VW... cars,
people’s faces are appearing in oval, long, rectangular forms, etc. Any par-
ticular form is perceived as being different, that is to say, as being identifi-
able among all other forms, which we can recognize in a certain “class of
forms”. Cars can be identified as the vehicles on four wheels, made of steel,
having windows, a steering wheel etc. However, a particular car can be rec-
ognized by its particular form and stored in our memory, as a car, which is
different in comparison to all other types of cars. This rather simple exam-
ple (which is only one among many possible empirical examples) reminds
us that form in general has a prominent function in the world, so decided-
ly marked by the production in series. Most certainly, the usage of different
forms helps to prevent confusion, although more often than not, it enhanc-
es it, because at the same time as meaning a difference, a particular form
1 This chapter is based on the published text: Štrajn, Darko. Benjamin‘s aspect. Filozof-
ski vestnik, ISSN 0353-4510. 1991, Volume 12, 1, pp. 109-114.
25
Form in all thinkable senses of the word makes a difference. Saying such
a thing seems a truism, seems more or less obvious, quite easily verifiable
in the so-called world of objects, not necessarily only the aesthetic ones.
In general terms “everything” around us has a certain form, which can be
seen or otherwise perceived. Our daily experience is full of semiconscious
or even unconscious recognitions of many forms. In an urban surround-
ings “forms” are standing around us in the shape of more or less architec-
tural erections, “forms” are driving in the streets as Alfa, BMW, VW... cars,
people’s faces are appearing in oval, long, rectangular forms, etc. Any par-
ticular form is perceived as being different, that is to say, as being identifi-
able among all other forms, which we can recognize in a certain “class of
forms”. Cars can be identified as the vehicles on four wheels, made of steel,
having windows, a steering wheel etc. However, a particular car can be rec-
ognized by its particular form and stored in our memory, as a car, which is
different in comparison to all other types of cars. This rather simple exam-
ple (which is only one among many possible empirical examples) reminds
us that form in general has a prominent function in the world, so decided-
ly marked by the production in series. Most certainly, the usage of different
forms helps to prevent confusion, although more often than not, it enhanc-
es it, because at the same time as meaning a difference, a particular form
1 This chapter is based on the published text: Štrajn, Darko. Benjamin‘s aspect. Filozof-
ski vestnik, ISSN 0353-4510. 1991, Volume 12, 1, pp. 109-114.
25
