Benjamin conceived the philosopher as interpreter of reality written in an Adamitic language.

Evidence

In philosophical contemplation, the idea is released from the heart of reality as the word, reclaiming its name-giving rights.' The philosopher was a reader or interpreter of the scripture of reality. And reality was written, for the philosopher, in the original Adamitic tonguea language which Benjamin himself, as he confessed privately in his essay On Language as Such and on the Language of Man’, held to be `an ultimate reality, perceptible only in its manifestation, inexplicable and mystical’. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 356

Categorization

• DEFINE: Benjamin’s mystical-linguistic variant of Platonic recollection — key to his theology of language.
• XREF: The ‘scripture of reality’ idea connects to Benjamin’s messianic philosophy of history and to later mystical strains in the Frankfurt School tradition. — connects to: Benjamin held that true philosophy must accommodate occult practices like tea-leaf reading — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 344; Benjamin’s interest in Goethe’s Urphänomene showed his theological roots — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 626

Broader Connections

• Benjamin’s interest in Goethe’s Urphänomene showed his theological roots #expands (0.78) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 626