Walter Benjamin’s essay "On Language as Such and on the Language of Man"
E662497
Walter Benjamin’s essay "On Language as Such and on the Language of Man" is a seminal philosophical reflection on the nature of language, positing that all beings possess a kind of linguistic expression and exploring how human language uniquely relates to naming, revelation, and divine communication.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Walter Benjamin’s early writings | 1 |
| Walter Benjamin’s essay "On Language as Such and on the Language of Man" canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T7389996 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Walter Benjamin’s essay "On Language as Such and on the Language of Man" Context triple: [The Task of the Translator, relatedWork, Walter Benjamin’s essay "On Language as Such and on the Language of Man"]
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A.
The Dialectics of Seeing: Walter Benjamin and the Arcades Project
The Dialectics of Seeing: Walter Benjamin and the Arcades Project is a major work of critical theory in which Susan Buck-Morss reconstructs and interprets Walter Benjamin’s unfinished Arcades Project to explore modernity, urban experience, and historical materialism.
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B.
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction is a seminal 1936 essay by Walter Benjamin that analyzes how mass reproduction technologies transform the nature, value, and social function of art.
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C.
The Origin of Negative Dialectics
The Origin of Negative Dialectics is a scholarly work by Susan Buck-Morss that examines the development and philosophical significance of Theodor W. Adorno’s negative dialectics within the context of Critical Theory.
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D.
The Meaning of Meaning
The Meaning of Meaning is a seminal 1923 work in semantics and the philosophy of language by C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards that explores how language, symbols, and thought are related.
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E.
The Arcades Project
The Arcades Project is Walter Benjamin’s unfinished, posthumously published magnum opus that assembles notes and reflections on 19th-century Parisian arcades to explore modernity, capitalism, and urban life.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Walter Benjamin’s essay "On Language as Such and on the Language of Man" Target entity description: Walter Benjamin’s essay "On Language as Such and on the Language of Man" is a seminal philosophical reflection on the nature of language, positing that all beings possess a kind of linguistic expression and exploring how human language uniquely relates to naming, revelation, and divine communication.
-
A.
The Dialectics of Seeing: Walter Benjamin and the Arcades Project
The Dialectics of Seeing: Walter Benjamin and the Arcades Project is a major work of critical theory in which Susan Buck-Morss reconstructs and interprets Walter Benjamin’s unfinished Arcades Project to explore modernity, urban experience, and historical materialism.
-
B.
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction is a seminal 1936 essay by Walter Benjamin that analyzes how mass reproduction technologies transform the nature, value, and social function of art.
-
C.
The Origin of Negative Dialectics
The Origin of Negative Dialectics is a scholarly work by Susan Buck-Morss that examines the development and philosophical significance of Theodor W. Adorno’s negative dialectics within the context of Critical Theory.
-
D.
The Meaning of Meaning
The Meaning of Meaning is a seminal 1923 work in semantics and the philosophy of language by C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards that explores how language, symbols, and thought are related.
-
E.
The Arcades Project
The Arcades Project is Walter Benjamin’s unfinished, posthumously published magnum opus that assembles notes and reflections on 19th-century Parisian arcades to explore modernity, capitalism, and urban life.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
philosophical essay
ⓘ
work by Walter Benjamin ⓘ |
| author | Walter Benjamin ⓘ |
| centralClaim |
all beings possess a kind of language or linguistic expression
ⓘ
divine language is the origin and ground of all languages ⓘ human language is uniquely related to naming ⓘ language is essentially communicative and revelatory ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | Germany ⓘ |
| exploresConcept |
Adam’s naming of creatures
ⓘ
critique of instrumental views of language ⓘ language as pure medium of communication ⓘ name as immediate relation to essence ⓘ relationship between human and divine language ⓘ |
| firstPublishedIn | Germany ⓘ |
| genre |
critical theory
ⓘ
philosophy of language ⓘ theological essay ⓘ |
| hasEnglishTitle | On Language as Such and on the Language of Man ⓘ |
| hasKeyConcept |
language of things
ⓘ
naming as knowledge ⓘ non-instrumental view of language ⓘ pure language ⓘ revelatory character of language ⓘ |
| hasPhilosophicalTradition |
German idealism
ⓘ
Jewish mysticism ⓘ romanticism ⓘ theology ⓘ |
| hasReception |
considered a seminal text in philosophy of language
ⓘ
widely discussed in Benjamin scholarship ⓘ |
| influenced |
20th-century philosophy of language
ⓘ
critical theory ⓘ literary theory ⓘ theological hermeneutics ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
divine communication
ⓘ
language ⓘ naming ⓘ philosophy of language ⓘ revelation ⓘ |
| originalLanguage | German ⓘ |
| originalTitle | Über Sprache überhaupt und über die Sprache des Menschen ⓘ |
| partOf | Walter Benjamin’s early writings ⓘ |
| philosophicalDiscipline |
aesthetics
ⓘ
metaphysics of language ⓘ philosophical theology ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1916 ⓘ |
| relatedWork |
On the Program of the Coming Philosophy
ⓘ
The Task of the Translator ⓘ |
| writtenIn | 1916 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Walter Benjamin’s essay "On Language as Such and on the Language of Man" Description of subject: Walter Benjamin’s essay "On Language as Such and on the Language of Man" is a seminal philosophical reflection on the nature of language, positing that all beings possess a kind of linguistic expression and exploring how human language uniquely relates to naming, revelation, and divine communication.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
The Task of the Translator
→
relatedWork
→
Walter Benjamin’s essay "On Language as Such and on the Language of Man"
ⓘ
subject linked to:
Walter Benjamin’s essay "On Language as Such and on the Language of Man"
linked to: Walter Benjamin’s essay "On Language as Such and on the Language of Man"