The author＇s proposal is to show how an apparently marginal text by Walter Benjamin, ＂The Destructive Character＂, can be taken as a hermeneutic model for understanding the connection of Benjamin＇s with history and...The author＇s proposal is to show how an apparently marginal text by Walter Benjamin, ＂The Destructive Character＂, can be taken as a hermeneutic model for understanding the connection of Benjamin＇s with history and tradition and for characterizing his thought as philosophy of threshold. It is the author＇s intention to show how the destructive character, on the threshold between destruction and construction, succeeds in remaining in that transition area that announces a change, showing its creative and conservative features; thus it appears as a figure of coexistence between stillness and movement, passage and interruption, and past and future. What the author wants to point out is that, in the description of this figure, Benjamin is driven by a cognitive demand, which tends to focalize the process of destruction itself rather than the result of the destruction process. The space in which the destructive character is acting is the space of the possibility of change and emancipation, and the space where it is possible to keep together past and future, and memory and redemption. Starting from these reflections, an important question arises about the problem of the relation between history and tradition, and culture and its memory： Neither the destruction of memory by a culture nor its canonization is meaningful. The concept of destructive character then represents a preferential point of observation for analyzing the articulations of Benjamin＇s thought. From this perspective, a decisive point of Benjamin＇s reflection seems to emerge on one side, strengthened in the permeation of Hebraic ancestors between destruction and salvation; on the other side, some of the concepts and images of the Berliner philosopher seem to show up in a new light.展开更多
In this expository paper,we describe the study of certain non-self-adjoint operator algebras,the Hardy algebras,and their representation theory.We view these algebras as algebras of (operator valued) functions on thei...In this expository paper,we describe the study of certain non-self-adjoint operator algebras,the Hardy algebras,and their representation theory.We view these algebras as algebras of (operator valued) functions on their spaces of representations.We will show that these spaces of representations can be parameterized as unit balls of certain W*-correspondences and the functions can be viewed as Schur class operator functions on these balls.We will provide evidence to show that the elements in these (non commutative) Hardy algebras behave very much like bounded analytic functions and the study of these algebras should be viewed as noncommutative function theory.展开更多
文摘The author＇s proposal is to show how an apparently marginal text by Walter Benjamin, ＂The Destructive Character＂, can be taken as a hermeneutic model for understanding the connection of Benjamin＇s with history and tradition and for characterizing his thought as philosophy of threshold. It is the author＇s intention to show how the destructive character, on the threshold between destruction and construction, succeeds in remaining in that transition area that announces a change, showing its creative and conservative features; thus it appears as a figure of coexistence between stillness and movement, passage and interruption, and past and future. What the author wants to point out is that, in the description of this figure, Benjamin is driven by a cognitive demand, which tends to focalize the process of destruction itself rather than the result of the destruction process. The space in which the destructive character is acting is the space of the possibility of change and emancipation, and the space where it is possible to keep together past and future, and memory and redemption. Starting from these reflections, an important question arises about the problem of the relation between history and tradition, and culture and its memory： Neither the destruction of memory by a culture nor its canonization is meaningful. The concept of destructive character then represents a preferential point of observation for analyzing the articulations of Benjamin＇s thought. From this perspective, a decisive point of Benjamin＇s reflection seems to emerge on one side, strengthened in the permeation of Hebraic ancestors between destruction and salvation; on the other side, some of the concepts and images of the Berliner philosopher seem to show up in a new light.
基金supported by a grant from the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation (Grant No. 200641)supported by the Technion V.P.R. Fund
文摘In this expository paper,we describe the study of certain non-self-adjoint operator algebras,the Hardy algebras,and their representation theory.We view these algebras as algebras of (operator valued) functions on their spaces of representations.We will show that these spaces of representations can be parameterized as unit balls of certain W*-correspondences and the functions can be viewed as Schur class operator functions on these balls.We will provide evidence to show that the elements in these (non commutative) Hardy algebras behave very much like bounded analytic functions and the study of these algebras should be viewed as noncommutative function theory.
