The redemption of the past. On a main motif in Walter Benjamin���s work

The following paper examines Walter Benjamin���s reflection on the category of ���redemption���, mainly developed in the theses On the concept of History. To this end, we will try firstly to reconstruct Benjamin���s critique of ���fate���, as it unfolds in the twenties on the field of right, economy and, especially, history. The critique of the expiatory logic of ���fate��� ��� developed in essays such as Fate and Character, Critique of violence or Capitalism as religion ��� will then allow us to disclose the ���dialectical��� structure of redemption, whereby Benjamin mobilizes his previous theory of knowledge against the doctrine of progress.