History, ‘nowtime’ (jetztzeit) and dialectical images: introduction to Walter Benjamin for psychiatry (I)

Considered by many the foremost German language literary critic of the first half of the 20th century, Walter Benjamin remains a star in our contemporary constellation of cultural criticism. His broad range of reference coupled with his dazzling linguistic versatility and radical understanding of technological transformation and its relation to society, continue to offer insights that help us respond better to the 21 century’s disorienting pace of innovation and change. Also, to measure the distance we have travelled since his contributions. Here we introduce aspects of his times, life, philosophical formation, and social-historical and critical work, including his use of literary montage and concepts of history, now-time (Jetztzeit), non-sensuous similarities, and dialectical images. Benjamin’s methodology and discoveries offer penetrating tools to any psychiatry which is truly committed to understanding culture beyond the conservative or descriptive ethnographic study of tradition in order to make sense of the nature and psychopathological impact of accelerating upheavals in our era of international conflict, climate change, social media, artificial intelligence and imperfect and threatened liberal pluralism. This era demands an approach open to co-creation and co-production and we discuss the relevance, including the limitations, of Benjamin’s work.