“Thinking of thinking of thinking”

Criticism as a Medium of Reflection in Walter Benjamin’s Doctoral Thesis

Abstract

The present article insert itself into the debate held by Walter Benjamin in his doctoral thesis, whose Portuguese edition was found under the title “O Conceito de Crítica de Arte no romantismo alemão” [The Concept of Art Criticism in German Romanticism]. More specifically, the article is part of the debate about the formal starting point of knowledge, which would be the core of understanding both art and art criticism by the romantics of Iena, F. Schlegel and Novalis. Benjamin's thesis demonstrates how these two authors started from German thinker Johann G. Fichte's theses, more precisely from the formal concept of reflection, “thinking of thinking", giving it another meaning that deeply broke with the presuppositions of a knowledge project focused on positive sciences. This new conception gains, by Benjamin, the formulation "thinking of thinking of thinking" to indicate an autonomy of the medium, which serves as a basis for both a notion of art and a notion of criticism, as a medium of reflection. The article follows the path followed by Benjamin, linking him with some concepts and formulations that are pertinent to his concept of criticism, whether they were written before or whether they were written after his doctoral thesis.