Early conceptions of experience in the aesthetics of Walter Benjamin
The article describes the early conceptions of experience in the aesthetics of the German philosopher Walter Benjamin.These conceptions are found in such texts as “Experience”,“Rainbow: the Dialogue about Imagination”, “Child'sView of Color”, “Doctrine of the Similar”, and “Task of theTranslator”. The concept of experience plays a central rolein the late Benjamin's philosophy. His theory of reductionof the Erfahrung to the Erlebnis is widely known. However,the origins of the philosopher's experience theory remainlargely unknown. There are three concepts of experiencein the early Benjamin: 1) the theory of spiritual experience(1910s); 2) the color-oriented experience theory (1910s);3) the language-oriented experience theory (1920s). Theearly researches of Benjamin not only shaped his theoryof reduction of experience, but also determined a numberof theses in his late aesthetics. Later, in the 20s-30s, in the“Arcades”, the essay about Baudelaire and the essay aboutreproduction, Benjamin worked out the theory of perception,which integrated his both early theories of experience:the language-oriented theory and the color-oriented theory.