Towards an Altered Subject. Walter Benjamin's Ethnolinguistic Studies

我的博士研究项目集中在一种思维模式，我称之为心灵的存在，Geistesgegenwart，一个植根于德国哲学的术语。这是思想家、作家和评论家瓦尔特·本雅明（Walter Benjamin，1892-1940）的作品中普遍存在的一种观点，本雅明是20世纪德国思想史上的杰出人物。Geistesgegenwart在本雅明的思想中占有中心地位（见Duttlinger，2022），它是一种能够通过使我们以不同的方式看待我们注意的对象来扰乱我们习惯性思维过程的立场。坐在语言和文化理论和心灵哲学的交叉点，我的研究集中在本雅明的智力生活，主要影响了他的思想的一个未开发的领域：他对土著语言的持续和广泛的人类学兴趣。特别值得注意的是本雅明对墨西哥研究的研究，以及他对纳桓语言的长期关注，迄今为止一直未被注意。我的论文是第一个研究表明，本雅明的概念Geistesgegenwart从他的持续接触非西方语言，他首先开始作为一个学生，他继续在他的晚年生活。本雅明的语言研究在他的语言学和人类学思想中起着重要的作用，这既是他的主题，也是他的方法论（见Duttlinger/Morgan/Dustan，2012）。我的项目将通过对本杰明与外语接触的重要性的更深入和更细致的理解来补充这项研究。他对土著语言和文化的积极参与与他对经验和认知之间联系的兴趣特别相关（见Weber，2010）。我的项目将有助于理解本雅明的语言习得作为超越西方范式的世界观的方法。这使本杰明的研究向一个新的非欧洲观众开放，并提出了以下问题：1。本雅明的多语言性如何塑造和促进他的人类学、跨文化方法？2.本雅明从非欧洲语言习得中获得的知识如何超越西方范式，增强他对人类心灵的理解？3.从本雅明对主客体关系的彻底重新评价中，我们可以得出什么样的结论？在我参与这个项目的第一年，我发现了本杰明的民族语言学研究，并认识到它们对他的工作具有深远的意义。我特别注意本雅明的手写笔记和信件，保存在柏林的沃尔特·本雅明档案馆，因为它们提供了对本雅明方法论和思想发展的宝贵见解。我的档案工作开辟了新的视角和研究思路，在此基础上，我将系统地分析本雅明在其语言理论中对主客体的重新解释，特别是他如何理解说话者的立场。此外，我检查了二级文献关于我的前提，导致第一次，全面调查相关研究。在此基础上，我指出本雅明的民族语言学研究及其语言文化多样性的哲学意义是目前研究中的一个空白。在我的论文中，我追踪本雅明的思想和方法是如何通过从他的外语知识出现的观点发生变化。我打开本杰明对迄今为止被忽视的民族学知识话语，阐明非西方语言和文化的意义，为20世纪的思想史。除了本雅明的研究，我的项目有可能有助于更深入地了解欧洲现代主义思想家如何超越西方范式重新审视主客体关系。

My DPhil research project focuses on a mode of thinking which I refer to as presence of mind, Geistesgegenwart, a term rooted in German philosophy. It is an idea that is prevalent in the work of the thinker, writer and critic Walter Benjamin (1892-1940), the towering figure in 20th-century German intellectual history. Geistesgegenwart has a central place in Benjamin's thought (see Duttlinger, 2022) as a stance able to disrupt our habitual thought process by making us see the objects of our attention differently. Sitting at the intersection of linguistic and cultural theory and philosophy of mind, my research focuses on an underexplored area of Benjamin's intellectual life that has majorly influenced his thought: his sustained and wide-ranging anthropological interest in indigenous languages. Particularly noteworthy are Benjamin's studies of Mexican studies and his long-lasting preoccupation with the Nahuan languages, which have hitherto gone unnoticed. My thesis is the first study which shows that Benjamin's concept of Geistesgegenwart emerged from his sustained engagement with non-western languages, on which he first embarked as a student and which he continued throughout his later life. Benjamin's language studies play a significant role in his philological and anthropological thought, which is considered both his subject and his methodology (see Duttlinger/Morgan/Phelan, 2012). My project will complement this research by contributing a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the importance of Benjamin's engagement with foreign languages. His active engagement with indigenous languages and cultures is particularly relevant for his interest in the connections between experience and cognition (see Weber, 2010).My project will contribute to the understanding of Benjamin's language acquisition as an approach to a worldview that transcends western paradigms. This opens up Benjamin research to a new non-European audience and raises the following questions:1. How does Benjamin's multilingualism shape and facilitate his anthropological, transcultural approach?2. How does Benjamin's knowledge gained from non-European language acquisition enhance his understanding of the human mind beyond western paradigms?3. What conclusions can be drawn from Benjamin's radical reassessment of the subject-object relation for his theory of Geistesgegenwart?During my first year on the project, I uncovered Benjamin's ethnolinguistic studies and recognised their far-reaching significance for his work. I paid particular attention to Benjamin's handwritten notes and correspondence, held at the Walter Benjamin archive in Berlin, as they provide valuable insight into Benjamin's methodology and the development of his thought. My archive work opened up new perspectives and lines of enquiry, on the basis of which I will articulate a systematic analysis of Benjamin's reinterpretation of the subject-object in his theory of language and specifically how he understands the position of the speaker. Furthermore, I examined the secondary literature with regard to my premise, resulting in a first, comprehensive survey of relevant research. On this basis, I was able to pinpoint Benjamin's ethnolinguistic studies and their philosophical implications of linguistic and cultural diversity as a gap in the current research. In my dissertation, I trace how Benjamin's thought and method are subject to change through the perspectives that emerge from his knowledge of foreign languages. I open up Benjamin towards a hitherto overlooked intellectual discourse on ethnology to shed light on the significance of non-western languages and cultures for 20th-century intellectual history. Beyond Benjamin studies, my project has the potential to contribute to a deeper understanding of how European modernist thinkers reconceived of subject-object relations beyond western paradigms.