The nature of this melancholy becomes clearer, once one asks the question, with whom does the historical writer of historicism actually empathize. The answer is irrefutably with the victor. Those who currently rule are however the heirs of all those who have ever been victorious. Empathy with the victors thus comes to benefit the current rulers every time.


VII - Theses on the Philosophy of History (1940)

Walter Benjamin Quotes

The nature of this melancholy becomes clearer, once one asks the question, with whom does the historical writer of historicism actually empathize....

The nature of this melancholy becomes clearer, once one asks the question, with whom does the historical writer of historicism actually empathize....

The nature of this melancholy becomes clearer, once one asks the question, with whom does the historical writer of historicism actually empathize....

The nature of this melancholy becomes clearer, once one asks the question, with whom does the historical writer of historicism actually empathize....