벤야민이 그의 19세기 파리의 파사주 연구에서 맑스의 상품물신주의 개념을 차용했다는 사실은 널리 알려져 있다. 그러나 두 이론가를 비교하려는 시도는 물론, 벤야민을 직접 맑스로 소급해 이해하려는 시도 역시 찾아보기 매우 힘들다. 본 논문이 밝혀내려는 것은 상품물신의 두 이론들은 공통적으로, 경제적 합리성에 기반을 둔 현대 사회가 바로 그 합리성의 논리에 따라 비합리성으로 전도된다는 변증법적 역설을 고찰한다는 것이다. 이러한 이론적 관점 속에서 본 논문은 맑스와 벤야민 사이의 상이한 서술수준을 넘어선 이론적 대화를 시도한다.
맑스는 상품의 가치가 형성되는 과정에서 드러나는 추상적 관계들의 전도된 형식들을 유령적 대상성과 물신주의, 환등상적 형식 등의 표현으로 담아냈다. 벤야민은 이러한 범주들이 구체적 역사적 상황 속에서 경험, 지각되는 방식을 이론화한다. 이를 통해 벤야민은 자본주의가 숭배의 기능을 갖는 종교적 체제라는 자신의 초기 신학적 구상과 맑스의 이론적 고찰을 연결시킨다. 파사주 프로젝트는 역사적으로 19세기에 출현한 환등상의 경제체제와 그 시대의 일상적 생활영역에 대한 탐구 속에서 합리적 경제체제의 비합리적, 신화적 요소로의 전도가능성을 살펴보려는 시도였다. 이러한 연구를 추적하면서 우리는 벤야민에 의해 수행된, 보들레르와 초현실주의 등 현대 예술사조와 맑스 이론의 접목가능성 역시 살펴보게 될 것이다.
결국 이러한 연구는 21세기 오늘날의 현 시대를 특징짓는 감각적이고 초감각적인 현상들과 그 경험들에 대한 이론적 고찰을 위한 준비과정으로 기능할 수 있을 것이다.
It is widely known that Benjamin borrowed Marx’s notion of commodity fetishism in his study of the Paris arcades in 19th century. However, it is very hard to find the attempts not only to compare both thinkers, but also to understand Benjamin recurring directly to Marx. What this article now tries to discover is that these two theories of comodity fetish commonly consider the dialectical paradox that the modern society which based on the economic rationality is revered into the irrationality, as the very consequence of its rational logic. This article attempts to bild a theoretical conversation between Marx and Benjamin beyond their different levels of the discriptions. Marx grasped the inverted forms of abstract social relations which come out during the process of the formation of value with expressions of spectral objectivity, fetishism and phantasmagoric form. Benjamin theorized now the way of how these categories are experienced and perceived in a concrete historical situation. He connected thereby his early theological conception of the capitalism as a religious system which has a function of the cult with Marx’s theoretical perspectives. The Arcaeds Project was an attempt to search the physiognomy of the inversion of the rational economic system into the irrational, mythical elements, studying economical system of the phantasmagoria and the everyday life sphere in it. Tracing such studies, we will search the possiblity of binding the modern art like Baudelaire and surrealism with Marx’s theory, what Benjamin diligently tried to do. As a result, this study will be able to function as a preparation process for the theoretical considers about sensory and extrasensory phenomena and their experiences which characterize the contemporary society in 21st century.
It is widely known that Benjamin borrowed Marx’s notion of commodity fetishism in his study of the Paris arcades in 19th century. However, it is very hard to find the attempts not only to compare both thinkers, but also to understand Benjamin recurring directly to Marx. What this article now tries to discover is that these two theories of comodity fetish commonly consider the dialectical paradox that the modern society which based on the economic rationality is revered into the irrationality, as the very consequence of its rational logic. This article attempts to bild a theoretical conversation between Marx and Benjamin beyond their different levels of the discriptions. Marx grasped the inverted forms of abstract social relations which come out during the process of the formation of value with expressions of spectral objectivity, fetishism and phantasmagoric form. Benjamin theorized now the way of how these categories are experienced and perceived in a concrete historical situation. He connected thereby his early theological conception of the capitalism as a religious system which has a function of the cult with Marx’s theoretical perspectives. The Arcaeds Project was an attempt to search the physiognomy of the inversion of the rational economic system into the irrational, mythical elements, studying economical system of the phantasmagoria and the everyday life sphere in it. Tracing such studies, we will search the possiblity of binding the modern art like Baudelaire and surrealism with Marx’s theory, what Benjamin diligently tried to do. As a result, this study will be able to function as a preparation process for the theoretical considers about sensory and extrasensory phenomena and their experiences which characterize the contemporary society in 21st century.