In the face of extinction. Benjaminian and adornian glimpses for a critique of the capitalism’s hidden abodes

Abstract

This work alludes to a set of theoretical knots around the concept of nature from the reflections of Walter Benjamin and Theodor Adorno. The scope is to develop a reflective montage in order to understand in what sense the critique of the historical domain is the critique of an instrumentalized relationship with nature, to explain why the critique of the modern relationship with nature is also a critique of violence, and to expose the emphasis of critical theory on a residual dimension of nature. To do this, first, it is made explicit in what sense the contemporary critique of capitalism requires as one of its fundamental moments the critique of the modern relationship with nature. Then, it is indicated why Benjaminian and Adornian critical theory constitutes a relevant resource in this direction.