"The Unsayable" and the Moral Subject: Benjamin's Thoughts on Morality in His Letter to Buber and His Early Fragments

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  • 「言いえないもの」と道徳的主体 --ベンヤミンのブーバー宛書簡と初期断章群における道徳の問題--
  • 「 イイエナイ モノ 」 ト ドウトクテキ シュタイ : ベンヤミン ノ ブーバーアテ ショカン ト ショキ ダンショウグン ニ オケル ドウトク ノ モンダイ

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Abstract

The idea of "the unsayable" is a defining idea that conditions the constellation of German thought around the turn of the 20th century and that is integral to education in general. Walter Benjamin's letter to Martin Buber on July 17, 1916, has been mentioned as a good resource to demonstrate the controversy over "the unsayable" around this time. However, the studies have not provided a sufficient answer to the question regarding the differences in their thought about the moral action to "the unsayable, " probably because these studies were based on a schematic opposition: Buber disrespects language as a mere means to urge a certain action, on the one hand, and Benjamin sees the power of the im-mediate operation of language, on the other. This paper discusses the possibility of Benjamin's thought in this letter from the aspect of morality and its relation to language, not just from the linguistic perspective, by rereading it together with the early fragments on language and morality that treat themes such as the Russellian paradox.

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