Open AccessFrom the Opium of the People to Acid Communism: On the dialectics of critique and intoxication
Author(s) -
Thijs Lijster
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
performance philosophy/performance philosophy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2947-5589
pISSN - 2057-7176
DOI - 10.21476/pp.2020.52276
Subject(s) - dialectic , german , communism , opium , politics , perspective (graphical) , hysteria , sociology , aesthetics , psychoanalysis , epistemology , philosophy , psychology , political science , law , art , linguistics , visual arts
There seems to be an inherent tension between intoxication and critique. We tend to associate intoxication with immersion, participation, and proximity, while critique is usually connected to the distance, separation, and an outsider-perspective. In this article I want to analyze this tension, but I also want to explore the possibilities, with the German philosopher and critic Walter Benjamin as my guide, of a critical intoxication and/or intoxicated critique. What would be the social, political and aesthetic implications for such juxtaposition for both of these categories?